Groupe PSA company Citroen has announced that it will leave the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) with immediate effect. The French automaker cut short his two-year commitment to the sport that was due to end in 2020. The announcement comes after driver Sebastien Ogier announced his exit from the team for an expected switch to Toyota, this leaving the team with no alternative but to pull out from the sport.
A statement from Citroen Racing said, "Citroen decided to withdraw from its WRC programme in 2020 due to the absence of a first-class driver available for 2020 season."
Thanking the team for its efforts, Citroen CEO Linda Jackson said, "Our decision to withdraw from WRC programme as early as end of 2019 follows on Sebastien Ogier's choice to leave Citroen Racing. We obviously have not wished this situation but we could not imagine 2020 season without Sebastien. I would like to thank Citroen Racing team for their passion and commitment. A part of Citroen's DNA is intimately linked with the rally and we are proud to be one the most titled brands in WRC history with 102 victories and eight manufacturer titles."
Citroen further said that it will now have the customer activities reinforced for the next season. That means that the company will continue to build the Citroen C3 R5 rally car for privateers in the sport. Volkswagen too decided to take a similar route when it exited from the sport in 2017. Furthermore, the statement from the company said that the exit from WRC will enable the company to reinforce its marketing activities with the launch of the new generation of electric road car models coming up in 2020.
Citroen's first World Rally Car arrived in the WRC in 2001, with its first-ever manufacturers' title coming two years later. The team has the most successful decade there after with Sebastien Loeb taking nine consecutive drivers' titles, and Citroen winning eight championships in total. With Citroen's exit, it is unlikely the team will return to WRC anytime soon. The team had already announced that will not be involved in the move to hybrid powertrain from 2022 with parent company Peugeot already committed to World Endurance Championship and Formula E with the group's premium brand DS.
Meanwhile, drivers 2019 Citroen drivers Sébastien Ogier and Esapekka Lappi join the drivers currently available for other teams next season. That being said, Ogier is likely to announce his switch to Toyota by next week that will leave Lappi in the roster of drivers available for the 2020 season.
