Snow Plough Duty Keeps Citroen Off the Swedish Podium

Rally of Sweden Day Three: 13 February 2011

Snow plough duty on day one and a puncture of day two stopped seven-time World Rally Champion Sébastien Loeb from threatening the leaders in the debut round of the 2011 World Rally Championship in Sweden at the weekend (11-13 February 2011) and while the new Citroen DS3 failed to score its first podium finish, the new Citroen challenger proved fast and reliable with it actually recording more fastest stage times than rally winner Hirvonen and his new Ford Fiesta!

As championship title holder, Loeb started the event as the first car on the road and with the snow laying deep, crisp and even across the stages the Frenchman lost a huge amount of time on day one clearing the snow away for the cars following him. This meant that on day two he had nearly two minutes to make up on the event leaders who had maximised their advantage during his snow plough duties. But his fight back came to nothing when a puncture – rare on snow events – at the start of a long stage meant that Loeb and his DS3 had to limp along for more than 15 kms, put him right out of contention for a front line finish.

This left Ogier and Solberg to fly the flag for the new Citroen DS3, with Solberg getting as high as third place during the event and Ogier being highly competitive, despite his relative lack of experience in the frozen stages of Sweden.

But on the final day the snow had another trick up its sleeve that, this time, handed the advantage to those first on the road. The lack of wind caused snow to be suspended in the air reducing the drivers’ visibility.

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“It was very difficult,” said Julien Ingrassia.“We had a white veil in front of the bonnet. The snow remained suspended in the air and didn’t fall because there was no wind.”

“I had to lift off in some of the quicker sections just to be able to see,” added Ogier. “I preferred not to take any risks. With the road covered with a good layer of hard ice, Mikko Hirvonen could take advantage of the best possible conditions. Behind, it was difficult to find the right trajectory because of snow on the apexes.”

In the provisional top three at the arrival in Torntorp 2 (SS20), Ogier lost ground in Rämmen 2 (SS21) : “The car was sliding around at the rear. We hit a wall of snow and that blocked the air filter. At the end of the stage the engine wasn’t giving its full power.”

Ogier finished the rally in fourth place scoring three additional points thanks to his performance in the Power Stage that ended the event: “I’m pretty happy with the result on only my second outing in Rally Sweden.

We’ve got a lot of positive conclusions to draw from this event. Despite the difficulties, we’ve shown that the Citroën DS3 WRC is quick. I can’t wait to race on gravel where the car looks like it’ll run well.”

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Sébastien Loeb, alone in sixth place, finished the rally without any pressure: “As I had nothing to aim for, I just had to bring the car home. Even if the result isn’t in keeping with our expectations, we had to score some points in the opening round, and we took advantage of the Power Stage to add another two. Thanks to our sixth place we may have a good starting position in Rally Mexico!”

Petter Solberg and Kimi Räikkönen in Citroën DS3 WRCs prepared by Citroën Racing Technologies also reached the finish of the first rally of the season. The Norwegian came home fifth, and the Finn arrived back in Karlstad in eighth place after a performance that bodes well for the rest of the championship.

“For their first race, the Citroën DS3 WRCs proved both reliable and competitive throughout the weekend,” summed up Olivier Quesnel, the Citroën Racing Team Principal. “Before the start we knew that we weren’t favourites on this very specific surface. Let’s wait for the first stages on gravel to have a better idea of each one’s potential.”

The Citroën DS3 WRCs will leave their studded tyres behind to fly off to Mexico. The next round is run on gravel thousands of metres above sea level and will take place between 3 and 6 March 2011.

ENDS

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