The major Citroën models in WRC (3/3): testing the DS3 WRC and DS3 R5

I take a seat in the DS3 WRC by Mads Ostberg. Note the nuance: I did not say “in the seat of Mads Ostberg”. That will be for later. For the moment, I am to his right, to play this role of sandbag that I hardly like.

The Norwegian, whom I meet for the first time, exudes sympathy. His face bears the scars of twenty-four hours spent on a plane from the southern hemisphere where, two days earlier, he finished in a distant 15th place in the rally from Australia due to a suspension problem. Whatever. This day in Issoire, south of Clermont-Ferrand (Puy-de-Dôme), is there to take his mind off things. Via the intercom, I hear him question me: “Have you ever been a passenger in a WRC? ".

© Citroën Racing

Believe me or not, he had just given me a monumental squeeze. My memory is sometimes so faulty that it could serve as a case study for Patrick Modiano, recent Nobel Prize winner in Literature, and specialist in this question of the relationship we have with our own history.

Without further conviction, I answer " Yes yes… ". What I remember perfectly, on the contrary, is to what extent the test of the Citroën C4 WRC (see Ah n°1785, December 2010. Editor's note) had turned my brain upside down with its performances of other world. The way it stuck to the road, with the exact level of grip to ensure bite from the front and agility from the rear was a revelation. Huge engine – how powerful was it really? –, controlled differentials, lightning-fast sequential gearbox, I loved everything about this C4… apart from its plastic.

Appetizer

I digress and the contact made by Mads Ostberg brings me back to the present. So here I am, sitting in a car, double world rally champion in 2011 and 2012, and I'm about to spend ten minutes evolving sometimes at