Kris Meeke's class win in the Rajd Polski European Championship Rally was a great encouragement for Citroen Sport's customer development work, on account of beating Super 1600 cars which were running in the same class as his C2 R2. This is a car designed to comply with FIA regulations which take worldwide effect at the start of the 2008 season. Citroen used the event as a promotional exercise, giving Kris the chance to extol the car to the media present.
"On average, the R2 is about 2 seconds per kilometre slower than the Super 1600 but one of the great assets of the R2 is that it has about 40bhp LESS. With the Super 1600 cars we spend a lot of time playing with the throttle trying to find traction. With the R2, you can safely push the throttle to the floor! The rally spectators kept asking if we were using traction control systems because the wheels were not spinning like those on the Super 1600s. . ."
Meeke explained that there were only a limited number of places, where superior power is essential. "On fast flowing roads the R2 is almost as fast as Super 1600 cars, also in places where you want a car that is easy to drive". The organisers of the Rajd Polski quoted Meeke as saying that the R2 was one fifth the cost of the S1600. In reality the price distinction is the difference in the cost of the conversion kit - about 22,500 Euros as opposed to 120,000.
Although both Citroen and Peugeot have officially withdrawn for this year from the FIA World Rally Championship, both companies are eagerly developing future rally machines. Citroen is also busy working on their C4 World Rally Car which they hope to run in world championship rallies in 2007, Peugeot meanwhile is proceeding with a 200bhp 2-litre 206RC model based on the R3 regulations, which appeared at the recent Limousin national French championship rally where it finished 13th overall, third in class behind two 2-litre Kit Cars. Peugeot Sport also started testing their Super 2000 car last week, which is being prepared ready for use in the 2007 season.
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