Three weeks after
the first outing, Citroën Racing continued development of its 2017 World Rally
Car in the south of Portugal ahead of next weekend's WRC counter. Faced with a
variety of weather conditions, Kris Meeke and Stéphane Lefebvre racked up the
miles during four days of testing.
The team were treated to rain, hail, fog and
even occasional sunshine during the four day test as they worked on the new
car.
“We were actually quite pleased to have these
variable conditions because they meant we could test different set-ups and
assess how the bodywork stood up to being loaded with mud,” explained Laurent
Fregosi, Citroën Racing’s Technical Director. “During the tests, we have
several objectives. Obviously, we want to check the reliability of the various
components. The mileage done by each part is noted down to make sure it tallies
with the specifications. But our work is also focussed on looking for
performance and driver comfort.”
After graduating in Engineering at INSA Lyon,
Laurent Fregosi joined Citroën Racing in 1995, when the ZX Grand Raid dominated
the Dakar Rally. He has therefore worked on every rally programme since the
Xsara Kit-Car. Appointed Chief Engineer, Chassis, in 2005, Laurent took over
from Xavier Mestelan-Pinon at the start of the year.
“Although we have already completed two test
sessions, we’ve only just begun the journey. Analysing the data and driver
feedback helps us to develop the technical definition whilst selecting the most
efficient solutions. As the same time, we are also preparing a second car,
which will be shortly used for testing on tarmac. This iterative way of working
– which affects all areas, from the chassis to the engine, including the
transmission and the aerodynamics – will continue until we need to obtain
homologation of the car for the 2017 Rallye Monte-Carlo. That point seems so
far away, and yet it’ll be here before we know it!”
