The Citroën Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team heads for Corsica and the eleventh round of the 2015 World Rally Championship season. After spending five years on the roads of Alsace between 2010 and 2014, including three memorable wins for Citroën Racing, the Rallye de France heads back to Corsica at the start of October. One of the oldest events in world rallying, the Tour de Corse returns in a classic configuration.
For the Versailles-based team, this return to Corsica brings back many fond memories: a World Championship win in 1999 for Philippe Bugalski and Jean-Paul Chiaroni, the first WRC win for the Xsara of Jesus Puras and Marc Marti in 2001, the first world title for Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena in 2004 and Loeb and Elena’s historic clean sweep, when the pair won every stage at the 2005 rally.
Far from the petal-like itineraries typical of WRC rounds since 1997, the route is as innovative as it is emblematic of the history of the “Ten Thousand Turns Rally”. The crews will complete a tour of the island with the service park based in Corte. However, each day will be a genuine leg, from Ajaccio to Bastia on Friday, from Bastia to Porto-Vecchio on Saturday and from Porto-Vecchio to Ajaccio on Sunday.
So I’m pleased to be back in Corsica, even though preparations for the rally have been very unusual.
Mads Østberg
This new configuration has called for a lot of work in terms of logistics in order to support the team’s efforts and follow the movements of the drivers throughout the three days of racing. From a sporting perspective, Rally Corsica is set to offer very different conditions to those on the other rounds on the WRC calendar.
A unique, traditional world championship event, the Tour de Corse features a completely revamped course. The event is made up of only nine stages – contested without the crews knowing each other’s split times – and the drivers will have to contend with some very long tests, of up to 48 kilometres.
The roads are just a series of bends on which the DS 3 WRCs will never hit top speed. And more than anything else, the island’s weather is particularly unpredictable in early autumn. A new high of 35°C was set just a few days ago, but storms are never far away, especially in the mountains, with one section peaking at over 1,300 metres above sea level.
Given the challenge posed by tarmac stages of over thirty kilometres, the Citroën Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team’s technical unit has scheduled three days of pre-event testing in preparation for the rally. The aim is to fine-tune the set-up of the DS 3 WRCs with the Michelin Pilot Sport tyres used this season. The car has to be efficient on the most uneven sections and maintain its balance over long distances. The consistency of the handling will be one of the key factors in determining driver performance.
Forced to withdraw from Rally Australia after suffering an accident during recce, Mads Østberg has recovered from his injuries in time to compete. Required to rest for around ten days, he resumed normal activities a week before the start of the Tour de Corse. Pre-event testing scheduled for this Friday will give him the opportunity to get back up to speed behind the wheel of a WRC before beginning recce on Monday, whilst Jonas Andersson has made a full recovery following the accident.
Kris Meeke is familiar with the previous configuration of the Tour de Corse, having competed here on three occasions in two-wheel drive cars. In securing a podium-finish at Rally Australia, Kris finally turned a series of good performances into a result and established himself as the leading British driver in the championship standings. In Corsica, he returns to a surface on which he has become accustomed to doing well.
As was the case in Germany and Australia, the two Citroën Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team drivers will be accompanied by Stéphane Lefebvre. The young Frenchman has once again been given a drive in a DS 3 WRC as he continues to learn about world rallying. He won the Junior European Rally Championship last year in Corsica.