Citroen Racing are hoping that a radical new aero package will help it deliver its first world title since 2012 with Sebastien Ogier, who sits just 28 points adrift of Toyota's Ott Tanak with two rounds remaining.
The new aero package raised some eyebrows as it hit the asphalt this week during a four-day pre-Rally Spain test, with major changes to the front and rear of the car as can be seen below.
Pre event test @SebOgier for rally @RallyRACC with C3 @CitroenRacing and new aero pic.twitter.com/sFnG8I0PTG
— hugo blancher (@hugo_blancher) October 11, 2019
Although Citroen technical director Olivier Maroselli refused to comment on the upgrade specifically, he confirmed he was happy with how the test has panned out and that they had primarily worked on fixing the oversteer issue experienced in Germany.
"All I can say on this subject is that we are working flat out," he said.
“We mainly worked on and improved the differential side. We found some interesting ideas on that side already on the Satory track and we could go further here on representative roads.
"It’s also the first time that we use on Tarmac the new front geometry introduced in Finland. We also worked on the dampers side. Everything combined, we solved the understeering issue, which was our main issue on the last Tarmac rounds. We clearly improved the balance of the car and the drivers’ feeling confirms it.
"But nothing replaces the race itself. What we don’t know yet is if it will be enough or not in terms of performance. But we will keep working flat out till the rally to be as competitive as possible."
Citroen tested the C3 on asphalt across three of the four days with Ogier behind the wheel for two days and Esapekka Lappi the other, whilst Eric Camilli took to the gravel on the final day.
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