Quesnel out of Citroen Racing

Oliver Quesnel has been dropped as Citroen Racing's Team Principal, in favour of the man who walked away from the record-smashing squad in 4 years ago.

Quesnel, who replaced the legendary figure of Guy Frequelin when he stepped down at the end of 2007, has been replaced by Yves Matton. Matton was widely expected to take over the reigns of the team from Frequelin in 2008, but when Quesnel was chosen instead, he walked away from Citroen Racing. During his time away, he set up his own MY Racing parts distribution firm, as well as finding a place in Kronos Racing.

During Quesnel's 'reign' at Citroen Racing, the French team secured no less than 3 Manufacturer's Championship and 3 Driver's Championships. Even though Matton has been away from the team for a few years, Citroen General Manager Frederic Banzet has said he will demand the same “high level of excellence” from Matton.

During his 4 year term at the highest levels of Citroen Racing, Quesnel has been a rather controversial figure. He labelled the Ford World Rally Team as “dishonest” after they manipulated road-order positions during the 2008 Rally of Turkey for their two drivers, which resulted in a 1-2 for the team on the rally.

In-fighting was also a frequent occurrence in 2011 between Citroen's two star drivers. Quesnel attracted criticism from the then seven-times (now eight-times) World Rally Champion Sebastian Loeb, accusing Quesnel of favouring team-mate Sebastian Ogier during the Acropolis Rally last year. Ogier went on to win the rally and Loeb came in second, 10 secs further back.

Quesnel was asked about the possibility of being let go by Citroen at the team's home rally, the Rallye de France. He had this to say: “I heard there is some rumours, we will see. You can imagine Guy Frequelin doesn’t like me. I don’t know why. I know exactly where [the rumour] comes from. I don’t have any problem but what do you do with a rumour. If somebody doesn’t like you they say you will leave.”

Quesnel will now focus solely on his role as Peugeot Sport Director. He lead the Citroen World Rally Team as well as the Peugeot endurance racing team during the past couple of years.

Banzet thanked the outgoing Team Principal, saying: “I would like to thank Olivier Quesnel for the job he’s done in his four years as Citroen Racing team principal. Under his management, Citroen has won the manufacturers’ and drivers’ championship titles every year with Sebastien Loeb and Daniel Elena. Yves Matton’s task will be to maintain Citroen Racing’s high level of excellence.”

Citroen's 2012 campaign gets under way on the 17th-22^nd January, with the team fielding two works DS3 WRC's for reigning Champion Sebastian Loeb and new signing Mikko Hirvonen. Belgian IRC star of 2011 Theirry Neuville's dream WRC chance will also begin in Monte, while Nasser Al-Attiyah will join the team from Sweden onwards.