Nasser Al-Attiyah joins Citroën Racing

Citroën Racing announced the arrival of Nasser Al-Attiyah in its team. From Rally Sweden onwards, the driver from Qatar will be at the wheel of a Citroën DS3 WRC identical to those of Sébastien Loeb and Mikko Hirvonen.

In addition to the two cars entered by the Citroën Total World Rally Team for Sébastien Loeb / Daniel Elena and Mikko Hirvonen / Jarmo Lehtinen, Citroën Racing will run another DS3 WRC for Nasser Al-Attiyah / Giovanni Bernacchini.

Nasser Al-Attiyah, winner of the 2011 Dakar, is no stranger to the WRC. The Qatari has raced in 46 rounds since 2004, and in 2006 he won the P-WRC title for production cars so he has considerable rallying experience, which he hopes to put to good use with Citroën Racing. Nasser Al-Attiyah has just won his seventh FIA Middle East Rally Championship title. Nassar, who is also a distinguished sportsman, will make his debut in Rally Sweden after defending his Dakar title. In addition, he will represent his country in the London Olympic Games in clay pigeon shooting.

Olivier Quesnel, Citroën Racing Team Principal: “We’re pleased to announce the arrival of Nasser Al-Attiyah at Citroën Racing. He’s a complete all-round driver who already has considerable experience as proved by his impressive results. We’re delighted that he’s chosen our team to make his debut in a World Rally Car, and we’re determined to put all our support behind him to help him move up to the top level.”

Nasser Al-Attiyah : “I’m very happy to fulfill what’s been both a dream and a sporting objective. We’ve done a lot of work on this project in the past few months and I’d like to thank Raouf Menhem for his involvement alongside me. I can’t wait to get to know the team better and to test the DS3 WRC. It’s still a bit early to fix myself objectives as I’m counting on acquiring experience not only with the engineering squad, but also with drivers as talented as Sébastien Loeb and Mikko Hirvonen. I think I’ll be able to score good results in the toughest rallies like Greece, for example. I also feel it’s a very positive step that the WRC is being opened up to longer events. The experience I’ve gained in the Dakar will certainly be very useful as endurance skills are of supreme importance in these rallies.”