The Citroën Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team head into the fifth round of the FIA World Rally Championship, Vodafone Rally de Portugal, on the back of a one-two finish on the last round in Argentina and the team are currently second in the manufacturers standings.
Kris Meeke who secured his first WRC victory last time out carries a new air of confidence into round five and with new update on the Citroen DS3 WRC the Northern Irishman will be looking to repeat the win.
“I know we still have a lot to do in order to be competitive at all of the rallies, but the win has given us confidence.” said Meeke, “We’ll have to keep going and stick to our strategy. I’m not going to set myself any new goals. I just need to be very consistent and avoid making any mistakes. In Portugal, the revised route should help us to make up for our lack of experience. We’ll see what this round has in store!”
Teammate Mads Ostberg comes into Portugal on the back of an impressive run over the first quarter of the series with two podium finishes in the last two rallies. The Norwegian will be more determined than ever to secure his first win in Portugal.
“After two second places in Mexico and Argentina, I get the feeling that we are heading in the right direction.” said Ostberg, “The team has done an excellent job and the one-two finish at the last round was perfect for our confidence. The updates are going to help us to improve a little bit more and the new livery is really attractive. It is difficult to say much about Rally de Portugal, because we don’t know the event.”
Citroen will also field a third WRC car for Qatari driver Khalid Al Qassimi while Frenchman Stephane Lefebvre will tackle the event in a DS3 R5.
The event kicks off on Thursday with the ceremonial start in Exponor at 2 p.m.
