The Citroën DS3 R3 continues its mission

The Citroën DS3 R3 crossed the finish ramp of the Critérium des Cévennes in eighth overall aftersecuring second place in Group R. It was a tough and challenging event, where a puncture cost theRéseau Citroën France-backed car victory. Nonetheless, the DS3 R3 faced up to the obstacles posedby the local terrain extremely well.

As expected, the penultimate round of the French Rally Championship was supremely challenging, withmore than 85 crews retiring over the course of the event.

But the tricky stages in the south of France did not even slightly affect the reliability of the DS3 R3, whichstarted off the rally at a prudent pace.

There was one night stage, Ferrières, which opened up the 216 kilometres of competitive action, allowingthe DS3 R3 to get up to speed. The following day – characterised by warm weather conditions and dryroads – the car got even quicker, improving its stage times with every kilometre that passed.

Unfortunately, a puncture on the fourth stage undid all the good work. The crew lost nearly three minutesand slipped down to 20th. On the second loop, Stéphane Sarrazin and Jacques Julien Renucci did all theycould to grab some time back, on stages that were made dirty and slippery by the passage of previouscompetitors. Sarrazin made up nine places in the overall classification and ended up on the provisionalGroup R podium by the end of the day. On Saturday, the weather conditions worsened, making the roadsdamp and tricky. Depite this, the DS3 R3 set some top times, standing out particularly on the 42-kilometreTourgeilles test. In total the car set three fastest stage times in Group R and two fifth-fastest times overall.This brilliant fightback resulted in the Réseau Citroën France car finishing eighth overall on the southernFrench event.

Jean-François Liénéré, in charge of Citroën Racing’s customer competition activities, concluded: “Theoutcome of the Critérium des Cévennes was positive for us. We improved our times with every stage,even though the puncture in Le Luc-Alzon meant that we forced to abandon our hopes of Group Rvictory. The rally allowed us to fine-tune the set-up of the car under these new conditions though,and prove once more that it is up to this latest challenge.”