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Originally Posted by leonidas
The big question for me after Sardinia is where do Citroen go from here?
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Back to the drawing board?
Quote:
Originally Posted by leonidas
Breen has had his moments but he has rarely looked like worrying the top drivers. Four and half minutes off the pace puts you in a different county in the modern WRC. The jury is out on Ostberg but it would be a major shock if he came close to actually winning a rally this year.
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The driver policy at Citroen has been muddled at best - rotating drivers in and out hasn't really worked. Breen has been ok - but as you say he doesn't look like worrying the top of the timesheets, Lefebvre was shuffled back into an R5 pretty quickly as he was clearly out of his depth in the WR car (maybe he'll be back again now he has more experience?). Putting Loeb in the car was good for grabbing a headline but was always going to be a long shot for a result. Mikklesen obviously decided that the Hyundai was the better bet, Al Qassimi like Breen isn't going to trouble the front runner. Realistically they're going to have to stick Ostberg in for the rest of the season - but in that car he's not going to win an event.
Quote:
Originally Posted by leonidas
Perhaps the truth is that the Citroen isn't very good and Meeke has had to take big risks to get anything out of it. Yes, he has made foolish mistakes but the harder the car is to drive, the more mistakes you are going to make.
Sadly, it wouldn't surprise me if this is Citroen's last year in the WRC for now. With a poor car and second-division drivers, are the suits going to want to keep spending the big bucks? Or is Loeb going to be offered silly money to come back on a more regular basis? Who else can make that car a winner...?
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Have you read this from Citroen head honcho Pierre Budar?
http://www.wrc.com/en/wrc/news/june-...8--12-12-.html
On the plus side he's saying Citroen are in for the next two seasons at least. But "We know that we have a good car" - really? The Citroen has consistently looked to be the weakest of the current crop of WR cars - hence being massively overdriven by Meeke in a desperate attempt to wring a result out of it. Even Loeb binned it. I think Citroen need to face facts - the car is a pig - if they can't see that then they're in big trouble.