Hirvonen and Sordo to share joint number one status

Mikko Hirvonen and Dani Sordo will be share joint number one status when they front Citroen’s pursuit of FIA World Rally Championship silverware in 2013.

Rather than appoint a team leader, Citroen Racing boss Yves Matton says both drivers will be tasked with the same objective: to claim a sixth-consecutive manufacturers’ crown for the French firm.

In an interview with WRC.com, Matton said: “My idea is more we have two drivers and the two drivers have to do their job to bring as much points on each event to have the title at the end of the season. Seb [Loeb] will not be there [full time] next year but Mikko showed he can fight for the first places and I am very optimistic what Mikko will show next year and what he will do for us.”

Of Citroen’s decision to re-sign Sordo after the Spaniard spent two years with the MINI-supported Prodrive team, Matton told Motorsport News: “It’s important that he knows the team and the car; the type of team we are and how we work on the set-up of the car. Spain is also an important market for the [Citroen] brand and it’s important for us not to have two drivers from the same part of Europe - with Spain and Finland we are very wide on the European market.”