Rally Italia-Sardegna, the second round of the Citroën Top Driver series, also marks the season’s halfway stage in the World Championship. And with just a few days to go before a well-deserved summer break, there may well be a holiday feel to the event.
Bryan Bouffier and co-driver Xavier Panseri produced a controlled, accomplished performance, starting cautiously on the first leg before gradually upping their pace on days two and three. They brought their DS3 R3 home in first place in both the Citroën Top Driver and WRC3 standings, whilst Sébastien Chardonnet and Quentin Gilbert rounded off this first, all-French podium.
Competing in a gravel rally for the first time, not to mention a round of the World Championship, Robert Kubica and Maciek Baran experienced the full range of feelings during the weekend. They ultimately came away pleased to have shown some real potential on the WRC’s main surface. The Citroën DS3 RRC crew also scored their first points in the WRC2 standings.
Blazing sunshine greeted the Citroën Top Driver crews as they began day two of Rally de Portugal for what would prove to be an incident-packed leg that would change the course of the race dramatically. Bryan Bouffier moved to the top of the provisional standings in his DS3 R3 with a healthy lead. Sébastien Chardonnet and Francesco Parli completed the top three.
Day one of Rally de Portugal witnessed some top quality racing in the Citroën Top Driver series. After a closely contested first leg, the Irishman Keith Cronin, British driver Alastair Fisher and the Frenchman Sébastien Chardonnet made up the provisional top three, with just a few seconds between them.
The waiting is almost over: the Citroën Top Driver series kicks off at round four of the World Rally Championship, the 47th running of Rally de Portugal. Set up by Citroën, the formula will see nine crews competing in the Algarve.
After making the perfect start to the rally in winning eight of the first nine stages, Robert Kubica and his co-driver Maciek Baran went off on the tenth stage of Rally Islas Canarias, the third round of the European Rally Championship.
Created following the inclusion of the new WRC3 category in this season’s World Rally Championship, the Citroën Top Driver series is set to make its bow on the world scene at Rally de Portugal in a few weeks time. The formula has already been a huge success, as no fewer than nine European crews will line up at the start of the rally in a Citroën DS3 R3.
