Citroën team boss Pierre Budar has opened talks with five-time world champion Sébastien Ogier, in a bid to sign the Frenchman for 2019.
The French team wants Ogier back seven years after it let him go following an acrimonious and bad-tempered season alongside Sébastien Loeb. Ogier's current agreement with M-Sport Ford is up at the end of the year. So he is likely to get offers from all four main WRC squads.
After sacking Kris Meeke in May, Citroën has added Mads Østberg to its second car for the majority of the remainder of the season alongside Craig Breen.
“I am thinking about the driver line-up for next year a lot right now,” team boss Budar said. “We have many options and we're talking with several drivers – there could be changes for next year."
Asked whether he wanted Ogier to return?
"I talk with Ogier like I talk with other drivers," he added. "Of course we would be very happy to have such a driver in our team."
It is thought that Ogier would prefer to stay where he is. He has said he feels very comfortable at M-Sport, where the less onerous PR demands from a private team are another bonus. Money was partly responsible for Citroën's failure to sign Ogier for 2018, with PSA Group boss Carlos Tavares revealing budgets had been cut for this year. Tavares also said back then that he was happy with a line-up of Meeke and Breen.
"I cannot answer the question of budget, I don't want to talk about this," said Budar when asked whether Citroën had the cash needed to get Ogier back.
"We have a budget and the company trusts us to use this in the best way for the team to win. It's up to us, we have to use the budget in the best way we can to win."
