Citroën Xsara WRC

Citroën Xsara WRC

Company type	Racing car
Industry	Motorsport
Predecessor	Citroën Xsara Kit Car
Founded	2001
Founder	Citroën Racing
Products	World Rally Car
Parent	Citroën

The Citroën Xsara WRC is a World Rally Car engineered by Citroën Racing for participation in the World Rally Championship under the Citroën World Rally Team. Derived from the production Citroën Xsara, it made its first appearance during the 2001 World Rally Championship season. The vehicle played a pivotal role in clinching the initial trio of nine drivers' championships for Sébastien Loeb, as well as securing manufacturers' titles in the 2003, 2004, and 2005 seasons.

World Rally Championship

Although inspired by the standard hatchback, the Xsara WRC shared minimal mechanical components with its road-legal counterpart and emerged as one of the most victorious cars in WRC competition. Its forerunner, the front-wheel-drive naturally aspirated Citroën Xsara Kit Car, achieved outright wins at both Rallye Catalunya and Tour de Corse in 1999, dominating its category until FIA weight rule changes in 2000 diminished its ability to compete with World Rally Cars. The Kit Car class was ultimately phased out after 2001.

The Citroën Xsara WRC made its competitive debut at the 2002 Monte Carlo Rally, where Sébastien Loeb narrowly missed out on victory due to a penalty incurred for a tyre change but subsequently triumphed at the 2002 Rallye Deutschland. In 2003, Citroën embarked on its inaugural full WRC campaign with Loeb accompanied by former champions Colin McRae and Carlos Sainz. The Xsara secured four rally wins that year, enabling Citroën to capture the manufacturers' championship by a margin of 15 points despite Loeb finishing second in the drivers' standings behind Petter Solberg. Loeb went on to win back-to-back drivers' championships in 2004 and 2005, including a record-setting ten victories during the 2005 season.

Accumulating 28 wins with the Xsara WRC, Loeb earned three successive drivers' titles from 2004 through 2006, while Citroën claimed three consecutive manufacturers' crowns between 2003 and 2005. Other prominent drivers such as Jesús Puras, Carlos Sainz, and François Duval also achieved success piloting this model.

In 2007, the Xsara was replaced by the Citroën C4 WRC but continued to be competitive when operated by private teams. Notably, Petter Solberg—world champion in 2003—raced a 2006-specification Xsara throughout much of the 2009 season under his own outfit.

Rallycross

Kenneth Hansen dominated the FIA European Rallycross Championship between 2000 and 2005 driving this model. In September 2014, French-Lebanese entrepreneur Nabil Karam entered an Xsara at the 2014 World RX of France, finishing 34th among 37 participants and failing to advance to the semi-finals. After upgrading to a DS3 for the following year, this event remains the sole instance of an Xsara competing in a FIA World Rallycross Championship round.

WRC victories

#	Event	Season	Driver	Co-driver
1	Template:Country data FRATemplate:Namespace detect showall 2001 Tour de Corse	Template:WRC	Template:Country data ESPTemplate:Namespace detect showall Jesús Puras	Template:Country data ESPTemplate:Namespace detect showall Marc Martí
2	2002 Rallye Deutschland	Template:WRC	Template:Country data FRATemplate:Namespace detect showall Sébastien Loeb	Template:Country data MCOTemplate:Namespace detect showall Daniel Elena
3	Template:Country data MCOTemplate:Namespace detect showall 2003 Monte Carlo Rally	Template:WRC	Template:Country data FRATemplate:Namespace detect showall Sébastien Loeb	Template:Country data MCOTemplate:Namespace detect showall Daniel Elena
4	Template:Country data TURTemplate:Namespace detect showall 2003 Rally of Turkey	Template:WRC	Template:Country data ESPTemplate:Namespace detect showall Carlos Sainz	Template:Country data ESPTemplate:Namespace detect showall Marc Martí
5	2003 Rallye Deutschland	Template:WRC	Template:Country data FRATemplate:Namespace detect showall Sébastien Loeb	Template:Country data MCOTemplate:Namespace detect showall Daniel Elena
6	Template:Country data ITATemplate:Namespace detect showall 2003 Rallye Sanremo	Template:WRC	Template:Country data FRATemplate:Namespace detect showall Sébastien Loeb	Template:Country data MCOTemplate:Namespace detect showall Daniel Elena
7	Template:Country data MCOTemplate:Namespace detect showall 2004 Monte Carlo Rally	Template:WRC	Template:Country data FRATemplate:Namespace detect showall Sébastien Loeb	Template:Country data MCOTemplate:Namespace detect showall Daniel Elena
8	Template:Country data SWETemplate:Namespace detect showall 2004 Swedish Rally	Template:WRC	Template:Country data FRATemplate:Namespace detect showall Sébastien Loeb	Template:Country data MCOTemplate:Namespace detect showall Daniel Elena

14 2005 Monte Carlo RallySébastien LoebDaniel Elena 15 2005 Rally New ZealandSébastien LoebDaniel Elena 16 2005 Rally d'Italia SardegnaSébastien LoebDaniel Elena 17 2005 Cyprus RallySébastien LoebDaniel Elena 18 2005 Rally of TurkeySébastien LoebDaniel Elena 19 2005 Acropolis RallySébastien LoebDaniel Elena

#	Event	Season	Driver	Co-driver

20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 , , Sébastien Loeb, Daniel Elena

WRC results

  ... [table continues with similar compression for subsequent years and drivers] ...

Year	Driver	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	WDC	Points	WMC	Points
Citroën World Rally Team
2001	Template:Country data FRATemplate:Namespace detect showall Philippe Bugalski	MON	SWE	POR	ESP 8	ARG	CYP	GRC 6	KEN	FIN	NZL	ITA Ret	FRA Ret	AUS	GBR			22nd	1	–	–
	Template:Country data ESPTemplate:Namespace detect showall Jesús Puras	MON	SWE	POR	ESP Ret	ARG	CYP					ITA Ret	FRA 1	AUS	GBR			11th	10
	Template:Country data SWETemplate:Namespace detect showall Thomas Rådström							GRC Ret	KEN	FIN	NZL							15th	6
	Template:Country data FRATemplate:Namespace detect showall Sébastien Loeb	MON	SWE	POR	ESP	ARG	CYP	GRC	KEN	FIN	NZL	ITA 2	FRA	AUS	GBR			14th	6
2002	Template:Country data SWETemplate:Namespace detect showall Thomas Rådström	MON Ret	SWE 37	FRA	ESP Ret	CYP	ARG	GRE 8	KEN 3	FIN Ret			NZL	AUS	GBR Template:Small Ret			12th	4	rowspan=5 –	rowspan=5 –
	colspan=22 Petter Solberg World Rally Team
	2009 World Rally Championship season –  09   align=left Template:Flagicon NOR Petter Solberg   09 Ireland   style background DFFFDF;09 Norway 6   style background FFDF9F;09 Cyprus 3   style background DFFFDF;09 Portugal 4   style background EFCFFF;09 Argentina Ret   style background FFDF9F;09 Italy Sardegna 3   style background EFCFFF;09 Acropolis Ret   style background DFFFDF;09 Poland 4   style background EFCFFF;09 Finland Ret   09 Australia   09 Catalunya   09 GB					5th	35	–	–
	2010 World Rally Championship season align left Template:Flagicon FRA Yvan Muller ... [results summarized with no points]