Citroen WRT

[wrc2017]

Well said. Many very good points.

Citroens problem is - Matton. How many drivers developed Polo wrc? Are they world champions and fully experienced? And who developed C3? - Meeke by himself. Matton should hire some experiences test-driver in 2016 to improve a car. Did they do that? - No.
From first rally of 2017 he said that in this year Citroen didn't care about championships, but more on rally wins. And now he blaming Meeke for low points at manu. championship?
Leferbve... it's a joke. Matton - you not Wilson who need a money and could take even a Duval if he pays for his drive.
And now, car was undriveable and it's proven by Breen, Mikkelsen and Meeke and he blaming just one driver. Invite Loeb for one day test and he told you. Did you do that? - nope.
And Citroen have 4th car. They can use Mikkelsen without pulling out Meeke. They do that? - Nope.

Too many strange decisions from Matton.

[macebig]

Yes, Yves has lost the ball.It all started from backing Loeb instead of Ogier and Neuville and things have only got worse.And even with Loeb, Matton managed to have a fall out during the closing stages of the 2015 WTCC season and drove him away too.So, Matton managed to piss off every top class rally driver he had and somehow he still has a job.Génial, as they say in Paris...

[Rally Power]

Meeke wasn’t helping Citroen with his ‘kamikaze’ driving. This leave may help him to get back stronger. Fingers crossed for him.

From Portugal PET I’ve watched I honestly believed C3’s handling issues could be solved with a proper set up but that’s not the case and like many of you are saying for a long time, it became obvious there’s something fundamentally wrong in the car (probably related to new diff, as dampers problems doesn’t seem that hard to fix).

Anyway it's also true that Citroen Racing management doesn’t look good at the picture. Taking 8 months to get Mikkelsen (since VW pull out) and probably a lot more to solve tech issues that should never exist, after last year long development stage, seems to be a huge waste of time.

Having the Dakar experience in mind (a total flop in Peugeot ’15 debut but a serious progress after, becoming a dominating force the next years), we can only hope that PSA leader’s will soon provide more resources to the WRC program and enable Citroen to get who they really need: Ogier.

[Munkvy]

He obviously uses his left fot to brake, what they mean is brake and throttle at the same time to stabilize the car in certain corners. If you have a well balanced car you shouldn't need it.

That depends on if you like to balance weight transfer. A well balanced car doesn't stop the laws of physics. I am not a professional driver, and my centre diff isn't fully active, although it is does use maps, but definitely LFB is important for balancing a car on loose surfaces, especially if you are driving on mixed surfaces, ie tarmac with some gravel. Hence I am surprised that he doesn't use LFB.

[steve.mandzij]

Unfotunatelly for meeke he never reached the level to be considered a good option for a manufacturer, he is just like latvala but without daddys money or a manager with connections.

his style will be missed but i think its time for him to go home.

You're obviously talking out of your ass. Meeke has had a terrible year but he's been picked by manufacturers twice now, Mini in 2012 and Citroen now. He had the level but he's fallen back.

As for Latvala that's just untrue. He's not only shown maturity and consistency but speed as well. 17 wins don't come easily, and he's proven to have helped Toyota get to where it is now, easily competitive enough to put up a fight against any other.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

[mknight]

Food for thought,so Andreas was not using left foot braking when he <should> do it(with the old wrc genereration)nontheless he was top driver.

There is an interview linked in the Sardinia thread from saturday.

Mikkelsen says something like: " The car needs a very different driving style and I am not sure I want to change mine that much. From my experience (with Seb) at VW I know it's faster". It was quite clear he meant Ogier.

Also Latvala at the end of last year after VW left said that he was trying to copy Ogier too much, both his driving style and setup and it didn't work.

Reading this together with the Citroen press-releas makes me think that Ogier doesn't really use LFB either and that Latvala tried to copy it and it didn't quite work for him.

Note that Mikkelsen decimated WRC2 (Sunninen, Tidemand, Camilli...). Don't expect he used LFB there either.

[Zeakiwi]

Matton might get on the phone to Henning Solberg (with his active diff experience from the 307) and tee up a test with two C3 wrc cars with Mikkelsen with different settings down the same piece of road. Get a lot of setting data in a short amount of time.

[mknight]

The press release says 4 day test with Mikkelsen, Breen and Lefevbre, quite massive. Also there are some limits on amount of testdays for all teams.

[Archie Gillaine]

And to think they spent a year getting ready so they could dominate in 2017; then turned up to Monte not ready.......

[TWRC]

Meeke wasn’t helping Citroen with his ‘kamikaze’ driving. This leave may help him to get back stronger. Fingers crossed for him.

From Portugal PET I’ve watched I honestly believed C3’s handling issues could be solved with a proper set up but that’s not the case and like many of you are saying for a long time, it became obvious there’s something fundamentally wrong in the car (probably related to new diff, as dampers problems doesn’t seem that hard to fix).

Anyway it's also true that Citroen Racing management doesn’t look good at the picture. Taking 8 months to get Mikkelsen (since VW pull out) and probably a lot more to solve tech issues that should never exist, after last year long development stage, seems to be a huge waste of time.

Having the Dakar experience in mind (a total flop in Peugeot ’15 debut but a serious progress after, becoming a dominating force the next years), we can only hope that PSA leader’s will soon provide more resources to the WRC program and enable Citroen to get who they really need: Ogier.

The Dakar program was basically saved by Jean-Claude Vaucard (designer of Xsara WRC and 205 T16 among others), who worked with them for a week, pointed out what they should change, and then left. They did 80% of what he required for 2016, and the remaining things fo this year. Point is, they won after he had his input on the car. So hopefully Citroën can get him in on a similar deal like that.