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WRC: Citroen’s Junior Team Ready for Cyprus
Written by: SPEED Staff
SPEEDtv.com   
03/10/2009
Charlotte, NC
 
With Cyprus on the horizon this weekend, Citroen has put their three junior team drivers through extensive testing and preparation. (LAT) ยป More Photos
 Between them, the three Citroen Junior team drivers Conrad Rautenbach, Evgeny Novikov and Sebastien Ogier have carried out five days of testing in preparation for this week’s Cyprus Rally.

The testing enabled them to get to grips with the Citroen C4 WRC in gravel configuration on a variety of stage conditions - including the asphalt and loose surface mixture they will face for the first time this weekend.

Team Manager Benoit Nogier reported: “Conrad Rautenbach drove the car for two days and also had the chance to experience a gravel set-up on asphalt. Evgeny Novikov then drove for two days, while Sebastien Ogier took over the car for one day. It was very important for all our drivers to have a full understanding of the car before coming to this rally. On the second and third days of the test, we ran on gravel for the first time this year. The drivers all had a good feeling with the car and seemed to be very pleased with the set-up, which is encouraging.”

In Cyprus the Russian Evgeny Novikov co-driven by Australia’s Dale Moscatt and Zimbabwe’s Conrad Rautenbach co-driven by Briton Daniel Barritt, will be nominated to score points towards the World Championship for Manufacturers. As was the case for the two previous rallies, the French crew of Sebastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia will be entered in a third Citroen C4 WRC.

Just like his team mates, Conrad Rautenbach has never taken part in the Cyprus Rally before. So it is all new to the Zimbabwean - especially the asphalt opening day. “I’ve driven on asphalt
before with a gravel set-up, but never further than a few hundred metres!” he said. “In Cyprus though, we’re going to have to drive for a whole day on tyres designed for gravel stages. It’s going to be a very strange experience. We’re not going to have anything like the same levels of grip that we are accustomed to and the cars will end up sliding a lot. I’m sure it will be good fun for all the spectators though! Our test went very well and I hope that we can soon find a good feeling when it comes to the actual rally.”

Twelfth on his Citroen Junior team in Norway, Evgeny Novikov will find himself back on his surface of choice in Cyprus - for the most part. The young Russian explained: “I was very pleased with our gravel test. We soon found a good rhythm with the car. For what’s still only our second rally in a WRC machine, we’re not fixing any sort of objectives in terms of results. The key thing about this event is that we have the chance to drive on gravel in order to prepare for the rest of the championship. There’s no need to focus too much on the opening day though as it’s going to be a very long event.”

Having successfully got to the finish of the first two rallies held so far this season, Sebastien Ogier has the same objective in Cyprus. “It’s really just a question of gaining experience on a completely new type of rally,” he said. “We’re going to start the event by going reasonably carefully...but we’ll always be ready to put our foot down!”
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