Citroën World Touring Car Team

The Citroën World Touring Car Team was the Citroën factory touring car arm of Citroën Racing, which competed in the World Touring Car Championship.

France Citroën World Touring Car Team
Founded2013
Team principal(s)Yves Matton
Current seriesWorld Touring Car Championship
Noted driversFrance Yvan Muller
France Sébastien Loeb
China Ma Qing Hua
Argentina José María López
Teams'
Championships
2014, 2015, 2016
Drivers'
Championships
2014, 2015, 2016 (López)
Websitehttp://www.citroenracing.com/en
Citroën's drivers got a 1-2-3 positions at the 2014 WTCC drivers championship, with 17 wins out of 23 races (74% of victories).

Formation edit

In 2013, Citroën Racing created a new sub-division, the Citroën World Touring Car Team, in order to begin to run in addition in the 2014 World Touring Car Championship. The Citroën World Touring Car Team was formed in June, 2013, when it was announced that the team will enter WTCC in 2014.[1] 9-time World Rally Champion Sébastien Loeb joined the team instantly and several weeks later the 3-time WTCC champion at the time Yvan Muller joined as Loeb's teammate.[2] Also it was announced that the car that will be used will be Citroën C-Elysée, built to the brand new TC1 regulations.[3] Loeb and Muller carried out the initial tests of the TC1 prototype of the C-Elysée. Shortly after the end of the 2013 season they were joined by José María López, who was signed to drive the third full-time car of the team.[4] In February, 2014 the team signed Ma Qing Hua to drive the fourth car at selected races.[5]

Results and statistics edit

 
Citroën-Total C-Elysée WTCC 2014 showed in Frankfurt in September 2013.

2014 edit

In 2014, Citroën won seventeen races out of twenty three, in spite of the inversion of the qualifications grid for the race two and in spite of the 60 kg compensation weight that the Citroën C-Elysée had to carry, as the most competitive car of the championship.

The Citroën World Touring Car Team won fourteen victories out of the first fifteen races of the 2014 WTCC season. The Citroën/Total WTCC Team won the Manufacturer's WTCC Championship, 5 races before the end of the season, after the 2014 Shanghai first race, where Citroën recorded a magnificent one-two-three-four. The Citroën World Touring Car Team pilots also got the three first ranks of the Drivers' World Touring Car Championship.

 
Citroën-Total C-Elysée WTCC 2014 showed in Geneva in March 2015.

2015 edit

The pilots of the Citroën-Total WTCC team were Sébastien Loeb, José María López, Yvan Muller and Ma Qing Hua, for the full season in 2015. Citroën dominated this season in the same way it did the previous year with José María López again winning 10 races and the Drivers' Championship. Teammates Yvan Muller and Sébastien Loeb finished second and third respectively, just like they did in 2014. Citroën again won the Manufacturer's Championship.

Citroën also provided a racecar for the Sébastien Loeb Racing Team and its driver : Mehdi Bennani.

2016 edit

Citroën announced their decision to leave the WTCC after the 2016 season, during which they fielded just two cars for José María López and Yvan Muller.[6]

Complete World Touring Car Championship results edit

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant No. Driver 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 DC Points MC Points
2014 Citroën Total WTCC 1   Yvan Muller MAR
1

3
MAR
2

Ret
FRA
1

1
FRA
2

2
HUN
1

1
HUN
2

5
SVK
1

10
SVK
2

C
AUT
1

1
AUT
2

Ret
RUS
1

4
RUS
2

2
BEL
1

1
BEL
2

2
ARG
1

3
ARG
2

3
BEI
1

2
BEI
2

9
CHN
1

3
CHN
2

Ret
JPN
1

Ret
JPN
2

5
MAC
1

5
MAC
2

2
2nd 336 1st 1003
9   Sébastien Loeb MAR
1

2
MAR
2

1
FRA
1

2
FRA
2

6
HUN
1

7
HUN
2

9
SVK
1

1
SVK
2

C
AUT
1

4
AUT
2

7
RUS
1

3
RUS
2

5
BEL
1

3
BEL
2

5
ARG
1

4
ARG
2

6
BEI
1

5
BEI
2

3
CHN
1

4
CHN
2

12
JPN
1

3
JPN
2

7
MAC
1

6
MAC
2

6
3rd 295
33   Ma Qing Hua MAR
1
MAR
2
FRA
1
FRA
2
HUN
1
HUN
2
SVK
1
SVK
2
AUT
1
AUT
2
RUS
1

6
RUS
2

1
BEL
1

11
BEL
2

Ret
ARG
1
ARG
2
BEI
1

15†
BEI
2

12
CHN
1

2
CHN
2

5
JPN
1
JPN
2
MAC
1

8
MAC
2

Ret
13th 69
37   José María López MAR
1

1
MAR
2

2
FRA
1

4
FRA
2

1
HUN
1

2
HUN
2

6
SVK
1

2
SVK
2

C
AUT
1

3
AUT
2

1
RUS
1

1
RUS
2

Ret
BEL
1

2
BEL
2

1
ARG
1

1
ARG
2

1
BEI
1

3
BEI
2

4
CHN
1

1
CHN
2

3
JPN
1

1
JPN
2

6
MAC
1

1
MAC
2

5
1st 462
2015 Citroën Total WTCC 9   Sébastien Loeb ARG
1

3
ARG
2

1
MAR
1

3
MAR
2

2
HUN
1

6
HUN
2

5
GER
1

2
GER
2

5
RUS
1

9
RUS
2

7
SVK
1

3
SVK
2

1
FRA
1

1
FRA
2

Ret
POR
1

2
POR
2

15†
JPN
1

6
JPN
2

4
CHN
1

3
CHN
2

4
THA
1

2
THA
2

1
QAT
1

4
QAT
2

4
3rd 356 1st 1069
33   Ma Qing Hua ARG
1

7
ARG
2

6
MAR
1

2
MAR
2

10
HUN
1

4
HUN
2

9
GER
1

5
GER
2

Ret
RUS
1

5
RUS
2

5
SVK
1

Ret
SVK
2

Ret
FRA
1

4
FRA
2

3
POR
1

6
POR
2

1
JPN
1

4
JPN
2

5
CHN
1

10†
CHN
2

8
THA
1

3
THA
2

2
QAT
1

5
QAT
2

2
4th 241
37   José María López ARG
1

1
ARG
2

2
MAR
1

1
MAR
2

3
HUN
1

1
HUN
2

6
GER
1

1
GER
2

2
RUS
1

2
RUS
2

12
SVK
1

2
SVK
2

2
FRA
1

3
FRA
2

1
POR
1

1
POR
2

5
JPN
1

1
JPN
2

Ret
CHN
1

1
CHN
2

3
THA
1

1
THA
2

3
QAT
1

1
QAT
2

8
1st 475
68   Yvan Muller ARG
1

2
ARG
2

11
MAR
1

5
MAR
2

1
HUN
1

2
HUN
2

7
GER
1

3
GER
2

1
RUS
1

1
RUS
2

6
SVK
1

1
SVK
2

3
FRA
1

2
FRA
2

4
POR
1

7
POR
2

2
JPN
1

5
JPN
2

15†
CHN
1

2
CHN
2

1
THA
1

Ret
THA
2

Ret
QAT
1

6
QAT
2

1
2nd 357
Sébastien Loeb Racing 25   Mehdi Bennani ARG
1

13
ARG
2

5
MAR
1

4
MAR
2

12
HUN
1

11
HUN
2

Ret
GER
1

7
GER
2

6
RUS
1

14
RUS
2

Ret
SVK
1

Ret
SVK
2

7
FRA
1

9
FRA
2

9
POR
1

11
POR
2

10
JPN
1

7
JPN
2

10
CHN
1

5
CHN
2

7
THA
1

4
THA
2

7
QAT
1

2
QAT
2

5
8th 127
2016 Citroën Total WTCC 37   José María López FRA
1

6
FRA
2

1
SVK
1

5
SVK
2

1
HUN
1

13
HUN
2

1
MAR
1

2
MAR
2

1
GER
1

1
GER
2

1
RUS
1

5
RUS
2

8
POR
1

5
POR
2

5
ARG
1

5
ARG
2

1
JPN
1

4
JPN
2

2
CHN
1

4
CHN
2

1
QAT
1

9
QAT
2

3
1st 381 1st 957
68   Yvan Muller FRA
1

13
FRA
2

4
SVK
1

7
SVK
2

5
HUN
1

12
HUN
2

2
MAR
1

3
MAR
2

2
GER
1

Ret
GER
2

DNS
RUS
1

3
RUS
2

11
POR
1

9
POR
2

2
ARG
1

3
ARG
2

5
JPN
1

5
JPN
2

1
CHN
1

3
CHN
2

2
QAT
1

4
QAT
2

6
2nd 257

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Citroen to enter WTCC with Loeb". Autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. 25 June 2013. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  2. ^ Hudson, Neil (7 August 2013). "Citroën sign Yvan Muller for a two-year deal in WTCC". TouringCarTimes. Mediaempire Stockholm AB. Retrieved 7 August 2013.
  3. ^ "CITROËN NAMES C-ELYSÉE FOR WTCC CAMPAIGN". World Touring Car Championship. Kigema Sport Organisation. 24 July 2013. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  4. ^ Hudson, Neil (16 December 2013). "José María López joins Muller and Loeb at Citroën". TouringCarTimes. Mediaempire Stockholm AB. Retrieved 17 December 2013.
  5. ^ Hudson, Neil (28 February 2014). "Ma Qing Hua confirmed as Citroën Racing's fourth driver". TouringCarTimes. Mediaempire Stockholm AB. Retrieved 28 February 2014.
  6. ^ Abbott, Andrew (19 November 2015). "Citroën to end WTCC programme after 2016". TouringCars.Net. Retrieved 19 November 2015.

External links edit