Ogier to enter Rally du Var

Citroen World Rally Team No.2 to be Sebastian Ogier is to enter the 56^th Rally du Var, which is due to take place on the 25^th-28^th November.

But Ogier won’t be entering the event in a C4 WRC as a last ‘hoorah’ for the all-conquering rally car (that honour goes to Wales Rally GB), but he will be instead be taking a step back in his choice of car, and he will be stepping forward at the same time. Confused?

Ogier will be taking part in the rally at the wheel of the 2WD Citroen DS3 R3, the base of Citroen’s future WRC challenger. This event will mark his competitive debut in the car, but he will be up against another driver with more experience of the car.

The Frenchman will be up against Belgian Thierry Neuville in another DS3 R3. Neuville is a Peugeot Benelux works driver in the IRC and has been a major force in the J-WRC this year.

Neuville made his debut in another DS3 on last weekend’s Rallye International du Valais, based east of Geneva, winning class R3 outright, taking two overall stage wins and finishing third overall. Neuville finished ahead of four S2000 cars and many more experienced ERC drivers.

“The roads were really tricky and we encountered snow, a lot of damp and also some mud. But we are delighted with this fantastic result and at the same time sad to get out of DS3 R3. We had a lot of fun driving it, and the car showed itself to be extremely competitive and reliable throughout the rally.”

“We knew that we faced a tough task this weekend, thanks to the snowy and icy nature of the roads. But the work that we did during the recce was very useful.” said the Belgian.