Citroën and Ford prepare for 2011

The new regulations which will come into force next season require manufacturers to install 1,6 liter turbo engines in their World Rally Cars. Citroën and Ford have announced that they are preparing four cars each with the objective that they will all be operational for the first event of the next season which will be contested in Sweden next February. But preparations are long and manufacturers are beginning to fear that customer cars will not be ready in time.

The delays mainly concern the engine, with chassis development being finalized on both sides. “ Our engine has been on the test bench for a while, but it continues to be improved. We are still far from finished but the engine should be ready at the end of summer, » said Malcolm Wilson, Ford team director. His counterpart at Citroën, Olivier Quesnel, also complains about the lack of time they have. “ We cannot prepare more than 4 cars », declared the director of the Citroën team. “ We have to hurry and that's not how we work at Citroën. We usually take our time testing and making sure everything is working well. But in this case, it is not possible. However, I will be happy if all four cars are at the start of the first event ».

Ford will replace the Focus RS WRC by the Fiesta RS WRC while Citroën will take the DS3 RS WRC to replace the C4 WRC.