Meeke, Lefebvre and Al Qassimi to drive Citroën C3 WRCs in Spain

After a six-week break, the World Rally Championship returns to action with the RallyRACC Catalunya – Rally de España (5-8 October).

Three C3 WRCs have been entered for the Citroën Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team. They will be driven by Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle, Stéphane Lefebvre/Gabin Moreau and Khalid Al-Qassimi/Chris Patterson.

In Spain to take part in recce, Craig Breen/Scott Martin will then contest the last two rounds of the season: Wales Rally GB (26-29 October) and Rally Australia (16-19 November).

Citroën Racing would like to wish Andreas Mikkelsen/Anders Jæger the best of luck, who will be making their debut for a new team after contesting three rallies in the C3 WRC.

Yves Matton, Citroën Racing Team Principal

"As a mixed surface event, Rally de España matches the qualities of the C3 WRC pretty closely and we hope we can be among the frontrunners again. Quick on both gravel and tarmac, Kris Meeke will hopefully be able to build on the confidence he acquired during the second leg in Germany, and aim to secure a positive result. Stéphane Lefebvre, whose involvement was announced several weeks ago, will also be looking to confirm his progress. Lastly, Khalid Al Qassimi will be driving the third C3 at a rally that he particularly enjoys. Obviously, Craig Breen’s fans will be disappointed that he is not competing in Spain, but I have to contend with budget restrictions that mean we can’t enter any more cars. At the start of the season, Craig’s programme was planned over eleven rallies and we considered, in consultation with Craig, that it was preferable for him to be competing in Wales and Australia instead. I would like to congratulate Andreas Mikkelsen and Anders Jæger on securing a new drive for next season. I really enjoyed working with them and it’s a good thing for the WRC that they are back in the championship full-time. Andreas was one of the options we considered when working on our driver line-up for 2018, but when it came to making a final decision, we decided not to pursue it."