Monza, Italy – Mads Østberg and Torstein Eriksen wrapped up their fourth category win of the year at ACI Rally Monza to become WRC2 world champions in the Citroen C3 R5, whilst Marco Bulacia and Marcelo Der Ohannesian finished as runners-up in the WRC3 world championship.
Held as part of the World Rally Championship for the first time and contested on roads around the famous racetrack, this year’s ACI Rally Monza promised to provide an unprecedented challenge. The fact that it was held on the first weekend of December made the event even more unpredictable, given the decidedly wintry weather in northern Italy. The crews had some very tough conditions to contend with, including snow and rain.
However, the #C3R5Family, which featured a six-strong line-up (Østberg-Eriksen, Bulacia-Der Ohannesian, Rossel-Fulcrand, Ogliari-Ciucci, Lefebvre-Dubois and Somaschini-Zanchetta), proved it was more than capable of handling such conditions, as Østberg-Eriksen grabbed the WRC2 world championship title and Bulacia-Der Ohannesian finished as runners-up in the WRC3 world championship.
Having already won three rounds of the WRC2 (Monte-Carlo, Sweden & Estonia) with the PH Sport C3 R5, Mads Østberg and Torstein Eriksen bagged their fourth win this year to seal a richly-deserved debut world title with Citroën. It was just reward for a very strong season, spent largely among the front-runners. Third at the end of Friday’s opening leg, the Norwegian crew excelled in the extreme conditions on Saturday, moving into the lead on the snow with two stage wins. They remained in pole position right to the finish, despite the high stakes.
Winners in Mexico, runners-up in Turkey, fourth in Estonia and third in Sardinia in the Tagai Racing Technology C3 R5, Marco Bulacia and Marcelo Der Ohannesian saw their incredible consistency this season rewarded by second place in the WRC3 world championship, this time taking sixth in the category.
Back in the C3 R5 here in Italy and despite a clear lack of time in the car, Stéphane Lefebvre and Thomas Dubois managed to up their pace gradually to take a fine seventh place in the RC2 class amidst contenders for the WRC2 and WRC3 titles. Yohan Rossel and Benoît Fulcrand, having also started well on Thursday, unfortunately ran into trouble early on Friday’s leg, losing substantial time in the process. This meant they spent the rest of the weekend hamstrung by being well down the running order, but nonetheless made it to the end of the rally. They could take some satisfaction from having added to their experience, whilst also producing the occasionally impressive moment (2nd overall in RC2 on SS11).
Mads Østberg, WRC2 world champion with the C3 R5 said: “What an unbelievable feeling! I am really happy, especially as it was such a difficult weekend, with so many ups and downs all through the year. We were very much the underdogs in the championship but we won through persistence and thanks to the excellent development work done on the C3 R5. The whole team, both at Citroën Racing and PH Sport, did an amazing job throughout the season to get to where we are now!”
Didier Clément, Head of Customer Racing, Citroën Racing add:“The RC2 world title brilliantly secured by Mads Østberg and Torstein Eriksen and the runner-up place in the WRC3 world championship for the promising youngster Marco Bulacia concludes what has been a season of achievements, wins and titles for our C3 R5. I’m very proud of this collective result because it is down to the tireless work of the development teams, the drivers, the co-drivers and the teams entering these cars. Our heartfelt congratulations to Mads who has had a superb season. He is a top level driver, with whom the entire team really enjoys working. Our congratulations also go to Yoann Bonato, who is one of the architects of this success story.”
اكتشاف المزيد من مجلة سوق السيارات.. .. عالم السيارات بين يديك
اشترك للحصول على أحدث التدوينات المرسلة إلى بريدك الإلكتروني.
Related posts:
