For the first time this season, the Citroën Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team is to contest a rally with a line-up of three C3 WRCs. Following on from their dramatic win in Mexico, Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle will lead the charge, alongside Craig Breen/Scott Martin and Stéphane Lefebvre/Gabin Moreau.
TOUR DE CORSE: A WRC ICON: Long before the World Championship was founded, the Tour de Corse started to
build its legendary status in the 1950s. Back then, the island’s roads provided an unforgiving test of the handling of the cars and the talent of the drivers. Even today, the “Rally of 10,000 Corners” is still known for its narrow, twisty stages with uneven and abrasive roads. Demanding on the brakes and tyres, the mountain landscapes are also capable of serving up constantly changing weather. Whether the rally is held in the autumn or the spring, like this year, it is extremely unusual for rain not to put in an appearance at some point!Held in October last year, the French round of the World Championship has therefore been moved this year to nestle between rallies in Mexico and Argentina. A very welcome reorganisation, which avoids there being a long uninterrupted series of six gravel rallies. As a result, the organisers have not made any drastic changes to the route, which is almost identical the one used in 2016. After an opening leg on roads around Ajaccio, the competitors will stay in the Bastia region on Saturday, before fighting it out on stages close to Porto-Vecchio on the final day. The itinerary of this sixtieth edition of the rally features only ten stages.
THE CHALLENGES: FIGHT FOR VICTORY ON TARMAC!
Since Monte-Carlo is not regarded as an exclusively tarmac rally, Tour de Corse will therefore see the 2017 World Rally Cars fight it out on this surface for the first time. Keen observers – especially the teams’ engineers – will therefore be eager to compare the performances of the cars to keep defining a pecking order. With three different manufacturers winning the first three rallies, this season looks set to be a very open contest!
Obviously, Citroën Total Abu Dhabi WRT would not be averse to bucking the trend by racking up a second consecutive win. In order to maximise its chances, the team is entering three C3 WRCs for the first time. Kris Meeke, Craig Breen and Stéphane Lefebvre are all nominated to score points in the Manufacturers’ World Championship, bearing in mind that only the two highest-placed cars can actually earn points.
Clearly, the goals are different for the three drivers. Boosted by his win in Mexico, Kris Meeke will be looking to confirm the potential shown in last year’s rally. After a puncture put him out of contention for the win, the British driver set a series of excellent stage times, which suggest that he will be challenging among the frontrunners this year. Fifth overall last October, Craig Breen will also be able to call upon his experience and aim for an even better result. The situation will be different for Stéphane Lefebvre, who has only competed here once before in a WRC. The young Frenchman will therefore need to fine tune his knowledge of the roads before testing himself against the top drivers.
10 timed stages covering a total of 316.80 km/53,78 km for Antisanti – Piggio di Nazza, the longest stage of the rally (SS9)/96,13 % of the stages are identical to 2016/1,600 km of testing in four days for Kris Meeke, Craig Breen and Stéphane Lefebvre / 8 wins for Citroën at the Tour de Corse: René Trautmann (1961 and 1963), Philippe Bugalski (1999), Jesús Puras (2001) and Sébastien Loeb (2005 to 2008)
THE TOTAL QUESTION: WHAT ARE THE CONSTRAINTS OF THE “RALLY OF 10,000 CORNERS”?With its narrow, twisty roads, the Tour de Corse calls for constant braking and gear changes. A bit like on the street circuits in Monaco or Singapore! Inside the gearbox, the lubricant is subjected to enormous stresses. Every time a gear is engaged, heat is generated locally on the pinion gearing, whilst the downforce through the corners sends the fluid from one side of the gearbox housing to the other.
Over long periods, these movements can lead to foaming of the lubricant. Now, we really must avoid any emulsion of the lubricant, because air has no lubricating properties! To avoid this happening, Total engineers add a precise quantity of lubricant containing specific additives.
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