Citroen Racing have unveiled a facelifted Citroen C3 Rally2 car, which is set to feature several technical changes in time for the 2021 rallying season.
The revised car builds on the successful C3 R5 that most recently was taken to the WRC2 championship win by Mads Ostberg on last weekend’s Rally Monza and will be renamed in line with the new rallying pyramid.
Rather than introducing a completely new car like Hyundai and M-Sport Ford have done in the last couple of seasons, Citroen have instead decided to build on the original platform but improve specific areas.
The first of these is new engine software which is set to be homologated in January before further upgrades to the aerodynamics, an upgraded front differential rail and an adjustable brake pedal all are set to follow after feedback from customers of the original C3 R5.
All of the planned upgrades are designed to both improve the car itself as well as trying to help customers reduce running costs, with more changes including new engine brackets, a new exhaust manifold and revised rear toe brackets all also set to feature.
Jean-François Grandclaudon, the Technical Director of the C3 Rally2 project said on the revamp: “Since its introduction in 2017, we have worked constantly and racked up a lot of miles on the road, enabling us to offer our customers an increasingly fast car, suited to all types of driver and with controlled running costs.
“This season, even more work was done with our two development drivers, Mads Østberg on gravel and Yoann Bonato on tarmac.
“Over the last two years, the car has changed a lot, especially with a number of components that have not needed homologation and our efforts have now paid off with national and world titles claimed this year in major championships.
“There is no need for a revolution on the C3 Rally2 in 2021,” he continued.
“We are going to build on the excellent foundation we have, which is both robust and quick, to try and improve it where we can. Although development is a never-ending process, we are excited at the prospect of seeing the performances of our customers in the car with these upgrades.”
“This year, the C3 R5 has clearly established itself as one of the market leaders and that was our aim,” added Mayeul Tyl, the Peugeot Citroën Racing Shop Manager.
“Despite the health situation, our customers have continued to place their faith in us and we have managed to appeal to new customers too, which is just reward for all the hard work put in by all of the customer racing teams.
Our aim on a project like this is to ensure all our customers can enjoy the same upgrades at the same time, regardless of how the car is being used.
With the development phase, we have begun the procurement process in order to be ready for the start of the new season. Work is underway, we are waiting on final homologation of the new components so we can offer them and start the process with our customers.”
Citroen have also revealed that each of these upgrades will be fitted to any C3 Rally2 that has been purchased by customers since the beginning of December.
