Craig Breen hopes for a dry day on Friday in Germany

Putting aside the Rally Monte Carlo, Craig Breen no longer drove the Citroën C3 WRC on a completely asphalt round since the 2017 Rally Germany.

Une épreuve que l’Irlandais avait achevée au 5e rang, alors qu’Andreas Mikkelsen, pigiste pour la marque aux chevrons pour sa dernière sortie avant de passer chez Hyundai avait décroché la deuxième place.

Now associated with Mads Ostberg to defend the interests of Citroën at the end of the season, Breen is especially hoping for good weather for Friday. Assured of a distant starting position, the former vice-champion ERC could suffer from a route made tricky by the competitors preceding him, and not hesitating to cut the ropes.

“Saturday's stage will undoubtedly be decisive once again with its two passages in the Baumholder military camp, but before that I especially hope that it will not rain on Friday, so that we can ideally start our race, Breen points out.

Since our tests in Germany carried out at the beginning of the summer, I have been able to use the automatisms specific to bitumen during an additional day of driving in Alsace, and I will do everything to get back on the podium. »

Ostberg aims for top 5

Alongside Craig Breen, Mads Ostberg remains cautious about his objectives for the German round of the WRC. The Norwegian, second in Finland, has great experience of the event, but will undoubtedly lack a few kilometers in the C3 on this surface to hope to compete for the first three places.

“I know I can count on the immense experience that the team has, of tarmac and of this round in particular, says Ostberg. I was able to benefit from two days of testing with the C3 WRC, which allowed me to cover all the road profiles on the program, so a top five would be a good result for me. »

Citroën Racing will not be able to count on the reinforcement of Sébastien this time Loeb, nine-time winner of the German event, and who will only make his return to the C3 during the Rally of Spain in October.