Citroën Xsara WRC

Citroën Xsara WRC

Category	World Rally Car
Constructor	Citroën Racing
Predecessor	Citroën Xsara Kit Car
Successor	Citroën C4 WRC
Technical specifications[1]
Length	4,167 mm (164.1 in)
Width	1,770 mm (69.7 in)
Height	1,390 mm (54.7 in)
Axle track	1,568 mm (61.7 in)
Wheelbase	2,555 mm (100.6 in)
Engine	1,998 cc (121.9 cu in) I4 turbo charge Front transverse
Transmission	Six-speed sequential 4-wheel drive
Power	315 brake horsepower (235 kW) @ 5,500 rpm 569 newton-metres (420 lbf⋅ft) @ 2,750 rpm
Weight	1,230 kg (2,711.7 lb)
Tyres	Michelin BFGoodrich
Competition history (WRC)
Notable entrants	Citroën Kronos Citroën Petter Solberg
Notable drivers	Philippe Bugalski François Duval Sébastien Loeb Colin McRae Xavier Pons Jesús Puras Thomas Rådström Carlos Sainz Petter Solberg Dani Sordo
Debut	2001 Rally Catalunya
First win	2001 Tour de Corse
Last win	2006 Cyprus Rally
Last event	2010 Rallye de France
Races Wins Podiums Titles 58 32 78 6
Constructors' Championships	3 (2003, 2004, 2005)
Drivers' Championships	3 (2004, 2005, 2006)

The Citroën Xsara WRC is a World Rally Car built for the Citroën World Rally Team by Citroën Racing to compete in the World Rally Championship. It is based on the Citroën Xsara road car. The car was introduced for the 2001 World Rally Championship season and has taken the first three of nine drivers' titles for Sébastien Loeb, as well as the manufacturers' title in 2003, 2004, and 2005.

Competition history

World Rally Championship

Jesús Puras with a Citroën Xsara Kit Car

Citroen Xsara WRC

The Xsara World Rally Car, based on the road going Xsara hatchback but ultimately having very little resemblance to it under the skin, was one of the most successful cars ever to compete in the World Rally Championship. In 1999, the WRCs predecessor, the two wheel drive naturally aspirated Xsara Kit Car, won overall in Rallye Catalunya and Tour de Corse.

This car was considered the best car in the class. The late Philippe Bugalski placed seventh overall and won the Kit Car F2 class.

In 2001, the Kit Cars category disappeared and was replaced by the Super 1600 and Super 2000. Citroën Xsara competed in the category of World Rally Car.^[2] In 2002, French driver Sébastien Loeb was supposed to win the Monte Carlo Rally but he was penalized for an illegal tyre change, but he later won the Deutschland Rally.

In 2003, Citroën partook their first full championship season, with Loeb joined by former champions Colin McRae and Carlos Sainz. The Xsara was more competitive, winning four rallies, and both Loeb and Sainz went into the final round of the season, the Wales Rally GB, with a chance at winning the drivers title. After championship rival Richard Burns suffered a blackout and withdrew from the rally, and Sainz crashed out on day one, Citroën chose to prioritise winning the manufacturers' title, which they did by 15 points. Loeb finished the rally in second and lost the drivers title by one point to Petter Solberg. In 2004, Loeb won his first drivers championship and successfully defended his title in 2005, winning a record ten rallies in a single season.^[3]

Sébastien Loeb won 28 rallies with the car, three consecutive Driver's Championship titles from 2004 to 2006, and Citroën to three consecutive Manufacturer's Championship titles in 2003, 2004, and 2005.^[4] In addition to Leob piloting the Xsara WRC, Jesús Puras, Carlos Sainz, and François Duval have also driven it to win since its 2001 conception.^[3]

The car was replaced in 2007 by the Citroën C4 WRC, however the Xsara was still used by privateers and others. World champion of 2003, Petter Solberg drove a 2006 spec Xsara for the majority of the season of 2009, which was entered by his own Petter Solberg World Rally Team.^[5]

Rallycross

Kenneth Hansen won the FIA European Rallycross Championship every year from 2000 to 2005.^[6]

In September 2014, French based Lebanese businessman Nabil Karam entered the 2014 World RX of France with an Xsara, finishing 34th out of 37 entrants after the qualifying heats, and failing to qualify for the semi-finals. Having upgraded to a DS3 for the edition of 2015, this is the only time an Xsara has been used in a FIA World Rallycross Championship event.

WRC victories

#	Event	Season	Driver	Co-driver
1	2001 Tour de Corse	2001	Jesús Puras	Marc Martí
2	2002 Rallye Deutschland	2002	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena
3	2003 Monte Carlo Rally	2003	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena
4	2003 Rally of Turkey	2003	Carlos Sainz	Marc Martí
5	2003 Rallye Deutschland	2003	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena
6	2003 Rallye Sanremo	2003	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena
7	2004 Monte Carlo Rally	2004	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena
8	2004 Swedish Rally	2004	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena
9	2004 Cyprus Rally	2004	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena
10	2004 Rally of Turkey	2004	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena
11	2004 Rally Argentina	2004	Carlos Sainz	Marc Martí
12	2004 Rallye Deutschland	2004	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena
13	2004 Rally Australia	2004	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena
14	2005 Monte Carlo Rally	2005	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena
15	2005 Rally New Zealand	2005	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena
16	2005 Rally d'Italia Sardegna	2005	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena
17	2005 Cyprus Rally	2005	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena
18	2005 Rally of Turkey	2005	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena
19	2005 Acropolis Rally	2005	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena
20	2005 Rally Argentina	2005	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena
21	2005 Rallye Deutschland	2005	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena
22	2005 Tour de Corse	2005	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena
23	2005 Rally Catalunya	2005	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena
24	2005 Rally Australia	2005	François Duval	Sven Smeets
25	2006 Rally Mexico	2006	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena
26	2006 Rally Catalunya	2006	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena
27	2006 Tour de Corse	2006	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena
28	2006 Rally Argentina	2006	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena
29	2006 Rally d'Italia Sardegna	2006	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena
30	2006 Rallye Deutschland	2006	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena
31	2006 Rally Japan	2006	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena
32	2006 Cyprus Rally	2006	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena

WRC results

Year	Driver	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	WDC	Points	WMC	Points
Citroën World Rally Team
2001	Philippe Bugalski	MON	SWE	POR	ESP 8	ARG	CYP	GRC 6	KEN	FIN	NZL	ITA Ret	FRA Ret	AUS	GBR			22nd	1	–	–
	Jesús Puras	MON	SWE	POR	ESP Ret	ARG	CYP					ITA Ret	FRA 1	AUS	GBR			11th	10
	Thomas Rådström							GRC Ret	KEN	FIN	NZL							15th	6
	Sébastien Loeb	MON	SWE	POR	ESP	ARG	CYP	GRC	KEN	FIN	NZL	ITA 2	FRA	AUS	GBR			14th	6
2002	Thomas Rådström	MON Ret	SWE 37	FRA	ESP Ret	CYP	ARG	GRE 8	KEN 3	FIN Ret			NZL	AUS	GBR Ret			12th	4	–	–
	Jesús Puras										GER Ret	ITA 6						19th	1
	Sébastien Loeb	MON 2	SWE 17	FRA	ESP Ret	CYP	ARG	GRE 7	KEN 5	FIN 10	GER 1	ITA	NZL	AUS 7	GBR Ret			10th	18
	Philippe Bugalski	MON Ret	SWE	FRA 4	ESP 3	CYP	ARG	GRE	KEN	FIN	GER Ret	ITA Ret	NZL	AUS	GBR			11th	7
	Jesús Puras	MON	SWE	FRA	ESP 12	CYP	ARG	GRE	KEN	FIN			NZL	AUS	GBR			19th	1
2003	Colin McRae	MON 2	SWE 5	TUR 4	NZL Ret	ARG Ret	GRC 8	CYP 4	GER 4	FIN Ret	AUS 4	ITA 6	FRA 5	ESP 9	GBR 4			7th	45	1st	160
	Sébastien Loeb	MON 1	SWE 7	TUR Ret	NZL 4	ARG Ret	GRE Ret	CYP 3	GER 1	FIN 5	AUS 2	ITA 1	FRA 13	ESP 2	GBR 2			2nd	71
	Carlos Sainz	MON 3	SWE 9	TUR 1	NZL 12	ARG 2	GRC 2	CYP 5	GER 6	FIN 4	AUS 5	ITA 4	FRA 2	ESP 7	GBR Ret			3rd	63
	Philippe Bugalski	MON	SWE	TUR	NZL	ARG	GRC	CYP	GER Ret	FIN	AUS	ITA 8	FRA 9	ESP 10	GBR			23rd	1
2004	Sébastien Loeb	MON 1	SWE 1	MEX Ret	NZL 4	CYP 1	GRE 2	TUR 1	ARG 2	FIN 4	GER 1	JPN 2	GBR 2	ITA 2	FRA 2	ESP Ret	AUS 1	1st	118	1st	194
	Carlos Sainz	MON Ret	SWE 5	MEX 3	NZL 6	CYP 3	GRC 19	TUR 4	ARG 1	FIN 3	GER 3	JPN 5	GBR 4	ITA 3	FRA 3	ESP 3	AUS WD	4th	73
2005	Sébastien Loeb	MON 1	SWE Ret	MEX 4	NZL 1	ITA 1	CYP 1	TUR 1	GRE 1	ARG 1	FIN 2	GER 1	GBR 3	JPN 2	FRA 1	ESP 1	AUS Ret	1st	127	1st	188
	François Duval	MON Ret	SWE 12	MEX Ret	NZL 4	ITA 11	CYP Ret			ARG 7	FIN 8	GER 2	GBR 2	JPN 4	FRA Ret	ESP 2	AUS 1	6th	47
	Carlos Sainz							TUR 4	GRC 3									13th	11
Kronos Citroën World Rally Team
2006	Sébastien Loeb	MON 2	SWE 2	MEX 1	ESP 1	FRA 1	ARG 1	ITA 1	GRE 2	DEU 1	FIN 2	JPN 1	CYP 1					1st	112	2nd	166
	Colin McRae													TUR Ret				–	0
	Xavier Pons	MON 9	SWE 7	MEX Ret	ESP Ret	FRA 6	ARG 17	ITA 4	GRE 8	DEU 14	FIN Ret	JPN DNS	CYP 7	TUR 4	AUS 4	NZL 4	GBR 5	7th	32
	Dani Sordo	MON 8	SWE 16	MEX 4	ESP 2	FRA 3	ARG 5	ITA 3	GRE 6	DEU 2	FIN Ret	JPN DSQ	CYP Ret	TUR 7	AUS 23	NZL 5	GBR 7	5th	49
Petter Solberg World Rally Team
2009	Petter Solberg	IRL	NOR 6	CYP 3	POR 4	ARG Ret	ITA 3	GRC Ret	POL 4	FIN Ret	AUS	ESP	GBR					5th	35	–	–
2010	Yvan Muller	SWE	MEX	JOR	TUR	NZL	POR	BUL	FIN	GER	JPN	FRA 42	ESP	GBR				–	0	–	–

References

1. "Xsara WRC". juwra.com. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
2. "WRC, motorsport news, results, features, teams, drivers, updates". Crash.net. 2 July 2008. Archived from the original on 2 July 2008. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
3. "Peugeot 306 Maxi Rallye car Citroen ZX Xsara WRC Race". marxxon.com. June 5, 2017. Retrieved November 4, 2019.
4. "Kronos - Season 2006". Juwra.com. 16 November 2011. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
5. "World Rally Championship – Rallies". Wrc.com. Archived from the original on 8 July 2009. Retrieved 6 October 2009.
6. "KENNETH HANSEN APPOINTED - FIA'S DRIVER COMMISSION". Archived from the original on 3 January 2015. Retrieved 26 September 2013.

External links

• Citroën World Rally Team

Awards
Preceded by Peugeot 206 WRC	Autosport Rally Car of the Year 2003, 2004, 2005	Succeeded by Ford Focus RS WRC