Paris 2010: Loeb’s new machine, the Citroen DS3 WRC

Paris 2010: Loeb’s new machine, the Citroen DS3 WRC

We showed you the great looking Ford Fiesta RS WRC yesterday, and the car that it has to beat in next year’s World Rally Championship is this, the Citroen DS3 WRC.

If you’ve been on another planet, Citroen has won five Manufacturer’s World Champion titles and six Driver & Co-driver titles with Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena, and the Sebs (the other DS3 WRC will be driven by Sébastien Ogier) will be banking on this new machine to continue their dominance of the sport. In the current WRC season, with three rounds to go, Loeb leads the championship from Ogier and looks set for his seventh title. The guy is unbeatable.

Paris 2010: Loeb’s new machine, the Citroen DS3 WRC

Using the shell of their DS3 premium hatchback, Citroen’s new car replaces the C4 WRC and conforms to the new rules set by the FIA. More compact than its predecessor, the DS3 WRC uses a 300 hp 1.6-litre direct-injection turbocharged engine tuned by Citroen Racing. The 4WD transmission incorporates a six-speed sequential gearbox and front/rear mechanical differentials.

By the way, FIA’s new rules for next season was designed to limit the budgets required to compete in WRC. It bans expensive materials such as titanium and carbon fibre, while standardising parts like the turbocharger and limiting the changes that can be made to the car throughout the season.

Gallery after the jump.

[zenphotopress number=999 album=1588]
[zenphotopress number=999 album=1587]

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Danny Tan

Danny Tan loves driving as much as he loves a certain herbal meat soup, and sweet engine music as much as drum beats. He has been in the auto industry since 2006, previously filling the pages of two motoring magazines before joining this website. Enjoys detailing the experience more than the technical details.

 

Comments

  • benji on Oct 03, 2010 at 12:09 am

    Wow! 300hp from a 1.6 engine…. amazing….

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    • turbocharged summore, race prep summore….good engine, good reliability

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      • coz turbocharge it get 300hp

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        • in f1 way before 1.5 can get 400-600hp..if no mistaken la

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          • Outsider on Oct 03, 2010 at 12:44 pm

            WRC car more importance having high torque then high hp like F1 because of 4WD and a lot of slow corner in gravel. F1 only 2WD and go round amd round and round.

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        • 1.6lover on Oct 06, 2010 at 2:34 am

          not only turbocharged make 300hp…
          all internal part are titanum,light n strong…

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    • mjintegrale on Oct 05, 2010 at 9:09 am

      No BMW had a 1.5l engine in the 1980’s that produced 1500bhp.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • Danny, working up so late?
    not going any booz tonite?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
    • Danny Tan (Member) on Oct 03, 2010 at 1:39 am

      It’s quite chilly here in Paris, so it’s hot chocolate and not cold beer for me!

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  • bryan.jones on Oct 03, 2010 at 1:13 am

    obviously turbocharged..

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  • S.Roma on Oct 03, 2010 at 11:18 am

    Dear All,

    1.6cc and 300HP?

    Sounds impossible, but they did it ! Nice…

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
    • Common la… it’s not that the engine have to last 200,000km. Trading durability for performance, this what they do in motor sports.

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    • Oh yea.. it’s not 1.6cc.. kekeke… 1.6cc is damn small engine for ants, i’ll b amaze if there is something like tat that can produce 300hp.

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  • fasgen on Oct 03, 2010 at 1:14 pm

    will proton take part in WRC? next year they have 1.6 campro turbo….

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
    • IRC got, WRC, well if got big teams want to buy their car, they can… Or they could go in themselves.

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  • tiny awesome :-)

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  • squawk on Oct 03, 2010 at 7:38 pm

    Looks like small cars are the in thing now. Fiesta, DS3, Mini……

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • rally_fan on Oct 04, 2010 at 8:12 am

    formula one 1.5ltr turbo engines in the 80’s made over 1000hp in qualifying trim.

    the last 3.0ltr N/A V10 engines in 2005 were making over 900hp.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
    • Blitzkrieg on Oct 04, 2010 at 3:00 pm

      Its not like that they cant reach the hp figures mentioned (1000hp) but because of regulations, they have to comply with the 300hp limit. Before they had this limit however, we had group B rally cars which produce up to 500-600hp in cars roughly the size of the DS3. You had the Peugeot 205 T16, Lancia has the S4. But all this came to an end with the death of Henri Toivonen. Group B was scrapped. Group A came along and it was good because it force the manufacturers to build road going models of their racing cars. We had the Celica GT Four, Delta Intergrale, galant VR4, Legacy RS.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
      • Jaybond on Oct 05, 2010 at 8:47 am

        Group B – while the cars are spectacular, they were too dangerous to race leading to the ban. But they are legends nonetheless. Unknown to most, Toyota was already working on a Group B-spec Toyota MR2, before the end of the Group B era.

        In my opinion, Group A era in the early 90s was the best, big number of entrants (Lancia, Toyota, Ford, Subaru, Mitsubishi, Nissan) plus the Group A cars were much closer to the real production cars, unlike the prototypes of WRC cars….

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  • Jaybond on Oct 04, 2010 at 8:54 am

    The question is, will this new Citroen WRC car, becomes another competition crushing car (and ultimately causing utter boredom in the WRC championship lately)? I hope not!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • callenish on Oct 04, 2010 at 9:54 am

    it’s good to see even WRC is heading towards efficiency.

    forget the wasteful lot F1!

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    • Ford_GT on Oct 04, 2010 at 7:04 pm

      Pray harder that new and older manufacturers will join the fray. Cheers!

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  • Need4SpeedUnderground on Oct 04, 2010 at 1:51 pm

    impressive car …

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  • pomen_gtr on Oct 05, 2010 at 10:08 am

    apparently got 2engine configuration for the manufacturer to choose for their WRCar…

    1.6T

    and

    2.0N/A(s2000 spec was going to wrc)

    so big possibility and chance for proton to show what are they made of…(it not like previously where our flying singh carry proton name on mitsu car)

    but of course their cash was questionable…..

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  • Citroën ds3 on Nov 02, 2010 at 9:16 pm

    Anyone knows a aftermarket in singapore which can help tune my docile like just looks ds3?

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