WTCC – Citroën fears the Slovakia Ring

Citroën Racing obtained good results during the season opener at Paul-Ricard (Var) on the weekend of April 3 as the Chevron brand won the MAC3 as well as the main race with José Maria Lopez.

The C-Elysée WTCC, however, suffers from their success since they will carry another 80 kg of ballast on April 16 and 17 on the fast track of the Slovakia Ring while the competition will be at their initial weight. The nature of the Slovak track combined with the additional weight could prove more detrimental than during the French round for the Reds' cars.

“The opening of the season was as difficult as we feared”, commented the Championship leader. “However, we managed to win and leave Paul-Ricard with a very positive result. In Slovakia, I expect our task to be even more difficult. Apart from the Nordschleife (at the Nürburgring, Germany), this is the longest circuit of the year and the tires will suffer in high-speed downforce. We will try to limit the effects of ballast. If we could win again it would be fantastic. »

His teammate Yvan Muller also expects to suffer as the Alsatian got off to a bad start to his season by finishing outside the points during Race 1 at Paul-Ricard. “Paul Ricard taught us two things: we progressed well during the off-season, and worked better than the competition since we were still the fastest”, commented the four-time world champion. “We know that the C-Elysée behaves well on all circuits; However, I think it will be very complicated this time. We estimated that the handicap linked to ballast was one second per lap over the 3,841 km of Le Castellet. Over six kilometers, pole position seems out of reach, but that's just theory. »

The Citroën drivers hope to benefit from an increase in performance during the following round at the Hungaroring (Hungary) held only a week after the Slovakia Ring.

“Finally, I'm mainly waiting for the Hungaroring and the rebalancing of performance. On paper, it's not the most exciting route, but the atmosphere is always very warm. In addition, we could find driving pleasure again with the new coating”, underlined the Argentinian.