Budar: Citroën has the means to win the titles

Recently appointed to the position of sporting director of Citroën Racing to replace Yves Matton, Pierre Budar believes that the Reds have a chance of being titled despite a reduced entry to two cars.

Published on 02/02/2018 à 10:26

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Budar: Citroën has the means to win titles

Pierre Budar took up his position as sporting director of Citroën Racing at a time when the Reds team is going through a period of self-questioning.

The hasty departure ofYves matton left to join the FIA as rally director just before the start of the season at Rally Monte-Carlo added to the disappointing performances of the C3 WRC last year, with only two victories for Kris Meeke, do not make the task easy for Pierre Budar who can be satisfied with the fourth place won by the Northern Irishman.

It is directly the ambitions of Citroën Racing which are called into question, the French manufacturer only entering two cars per year. Craig Breen will not even compete the whole season since he will hand over his steering wheel to Sébastien Loeb at the Rally of Mexico (March 8-11), the Tour de Corse (April 5-8) and the Catalonia Rally (October 25-28).

“We start the events to try to win them. We have the means to think so, assured Pierre Budar to AUTOweekly. With two cars, where others will field up to four, it is likely that it will be more complicated for us. We are considering having an additional car like in Sweden (driven by Mads Ostberg). This will perhaps be part of the developments I was talking about… For the Drivers’ title, Kris has the same chances as the others. Maybe Craig will surprise us too. »

Citroën will field three cars at the Swedish Rally with Kris Meeke, Craig Breen and Mads Ostberg.

Discover the interviews with Carlos Tavares, CEO of PSA, and Pierre Budar, as well as the analysis of the Monte-Carlo Rally carried out by our special correspondents in issue 2150 of AUTOhebdo, available now in digital version on all platforms and on kiosks.