Citroën Racing has continued the development of its new C-Elysée World Touring Car Championship car, with the team down to its final three tests before the season begins in April.
The team has been seen to be extensively testing during the winter months, having visited circuits throughout Europe and the Middle East. Citroën Racing Deputy Team Principal Xavier Mestelan-Pinon explains the manufacturer’s reasons for testing at such a wide variety of different race tracks.
“Rather than systematically use the same circuits used by the championship, we looked for tracks that are representative of everything we could encounter during the course of a season,” admitted Mestelan-Pinon. “We have been to the Hungaroring and Monza, two tracks that couldn’t be more different. At the start of the year, our partner Abu Dhabi gave us the opportunity to run at Yas Marina. We took advantage of warmer temperatures than in Europe, but we also had rain!”
Citroën have carried out much more testing of their car for the new era of technical regulations in the WTCC than rivals Honda, LADA or RML. The team are now focucsed on fine-tuning their new car.
“During the 2012 winter, we transformed a DS3 WRC into a laboratory vehicle, in order to answer questions we had about the workings of a touring car,” explained Mestelan-Pinon. “This preliminary work allowed us to be more efficient during the conception of the C-Elysée WTCC, which ran for the first time in mid-July, 2013.
“Up until the end of last year, we improved the reliability and performance of the C-Elysée WTCC with the introduction of new parts. Since the start of the year, the technical definition is nearly complete and we are now concentrating on how far it can be exploited. Gains are made in working on the set-up, the tyres and the use of the car by the driver.”
Although faced with many new concepts associated with circuit racing to adapt to, such as perfecting the car’s suspension, one thing Citroën didn’t have to worry about was the engine, which has been carried over from their World Rally Championship programme.
Talking about the challenges of developing the car’s suspension, Mestelan-Pinon explained: “We began to define the geometry by beginning with what we knew best, the Xsara Kit-Car, a front-wheel drive built for the asphalt. In so far as the speed or the obstacles faced by the two cars are very different, we struggled a little before reaching the required efficiency and reliability.
“As for the motor, our job was easier. The engine of the C-Elysée WTCC is an evolution of what was conceived for the DS3 WRC and which was used for the fourth season in rally. Certain technologies, like ‘fresh air’, are not as sensitive in circuit racing and we quickly obtained a satisfying result. Even with the extra 50 horsepower, we haven’t experienced any major reliability problems.”
With just 77 days to go until the new WTCC kicks off in Marrakech, Citroën plan to conduct three more test session in which they will run all three drivers, Sébastien Loeb, Yvan Muller and José-María López.
“We have three more tests scheduled before the start of the championship,” added Mestelan-Pinon. “At one of them, we will run two C-Elysée WTCCs to log a maximum amount of experience – most notably in the area of tyres – and to run Seb, José-María and Yvan. These tests will also allow our driver-engineer duos to cement their relationships. We will also look to validate our work methods, our equipment and everything specific to the category.
“We will present it [the new WTCC car] to the FIA in mid-March [for homologation]. After this stage, a certain number of components will be frozen and we will be able to make changes using wildcards, according to the system we know very well from rally. Beyond these regulations, we look to prepare a car that is competitive and reliable from the first race. In eleven weeks, we will run the seven European rounds of the season. We must be ready for Marrakech!”