Citroen team principal Yves Matton has confirmed that the team will be using ideas and technology from their highly successful FIA World Touring Car Championship programme as they look to develop the next FIA World Rally Championship challenger.
Citroen will run a selective programme for Kris Meeke, Stéphane Lefebvre, Craig Breen and Khalid Al Qassimi under the Abu Dhabi Total World Rally Team for the 2016 as they concentrate on their all-new car for 2017.
The French marque has dominated their two seasons in the WTCC as they took a 35 victories en route to two championship titles; While 2016 will only see two works cars on the grid, Matton believes it has been a valuable exercise.
“We learned a lot of things doing circuit racing.” said Matton to Autosport. “In terms of technology there’s a lot of new ideas and things we will be able to use for the future in the World Rally Championship.
“We [have] pushed the championship higher; but maybe you can say that we bring a level that is too high for the championship.” he added, talking about the WTCC programme that will come to an end this season.
