French firm aims to rule R5 with new machine

Citroen’s C3 R5 will test for the first time this week and team principal Yves Matton has laid bare his determination to make the car into a class-leader.

The PSA Group’s experience of R5 rallying has, so far, not been a happy one. Neither the DS 3 R5 or Peugeot’s 208 T16 was able to offer significant competition to Skoda’s Fabia or M-sport’s Ford Fiesta R5. The C3 R5 has, however, benefitted from a clean sheet of paper and experience gained from the early running of the C3 WRC.

Matton said: “We are reaching an important milestone this week with the first development tests of the car. The technical teams are clear: we want the Citroen C3 R5 to set new standards in the category, in terms of performance, reliability and controlled operating costs.”

The car, which will be tested and developed by Craig Breen, Stephane Lefebvre and Yoann Bonato, will feature Reiger suspension, Sadev transmission and an engine developed in-house by Citroen Racing.

Pierre Budar, development director, customer racing vehicles, outlined the production of Citroen’s first customer-ready C3 rally car. He said: “There is a direct link between the C3 R5 and the C3 WRC: for example, the rollcage of the two cars was designed by the same engineer. Some solutions have been re-used, while adapting them to the constraints of the regs and small-scale production. Similarly, the engine has been developed in-house, based on the unit used on the production model, therefore providing performance and reliability. We have a product, capable of meeting the goals of the customers that choose the R5.”

The C3 R5’s running this week will be on a variety of gravel roads aimed at finding a base set-up for customers, while the team also works on durability.