Cars That Go Fast: A FIRST ONE-TWO FOR THE CITROËN JUNIOR TEAM

A FIRST ONE-TWO FOR THE CITROËN JUNIOR TEAM
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Elton on 16 June, 2010 11:50:00
 
In order  to prepare for the second half of the FIA World Rally  Championship,
which is held largely on asphalt, the Citroën Junior Team  entered two C4 WRCs
on the Rally della Lanterna – which took place close  to Genoa during the
weekend. Kimi Räikkönen and Kaj Lindstrom led for  the majority of the rally,
with Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia  clinching the victory in the final
stages. For the first time in its  history, the Citroën Junior Team sealed a
one-two.
The weather made tyre choice  an extremely tricky proposition for both  teams.
Although a storm had been predicted for the opening stages,  Sébastien Ogier
chose hard tyres. “We’re not here to win, but instead to  test for the four
remaining asphalt rounds on the WRC this year,” he  explained. “So this is a
good opportunity to find out how the tyres  behave in unaccustomed
conditions.”
Kimi Räikkönen, who is still  adjusting to the C4 WRC on asphalt, made  a
more conservative choice with soft tyres. Although these tyres  overheated on
SS2, Kimi was leading the rally by the end of SS4 with  Sébastien losing nearly
30 seconds after struggling to find grip on the  slippery asphalt.
On the second loop of  stages, both C4 WRCs were fitted with soft  tyres. Kimi
hung onto the lead, while Sébastien climbed up to second; 17  seconds off his
team mate.
The rally went down to the  final three stages. On the penultimate  stage, a
small impact cost Kimi several seconds, and Sébastien closed up  to within 2.4
seconds of him. As has been the case on several occasions  recently, there was
maximum suspense at the stop control of the final  stage. In the end, Sébastien
Ogier claimed victory by 5.7 seconds. “It’s  always great to win a rally,
but above all I’m pleased to have been  able to test a variety of different
things on the car,” the Frenchman  said. “ I feel much better prepared now
for the remaining rounds of the  World Rally Championship, starting with the
Rally Bulgaria that will be  new for everyone.”
Kimi Räikkönen also drew a  positive conclusion from this valuable  test
event. “It was a good experience,” he said. “The car was fun to  drive and
this day will be very useful to me to get ready for the second  part of the
season.”
Team manager Benoît Nogier  will retain many good memories of the trip  to
Italy. “Another victory in the space of a few weeks and our first  one-two are
great moments for our team, which has been working nonstop,”  he concluded.
“Leaving aside the result though, we’ve made a lot of  progress to prepare
for the Rally Bulgaria. It’s extremely useful for  the future to have tried
out a wide range of tyres in different  conditions. Sébastien was just as good
as we expected him to be and I  would also like to highlight the performance of
Kimi, who set some very  good times. We expected him to feel more at ease on
asphalt and that has  turned out to be the case. It’s very encouraging for the
future.  Finally, I’d like to thank the organisers and the spectators, who 
welcomed us enthusiastically to their beautiful part of the world.”