Citroen is returning to the FIA World Rally Championship in 2017 and will do so in something akin to the C3 WRC concept, which has been unveiled ahead of its Paris Motor Show debut.
The Citroen Racing C3 WRC concept is ‘very close to the finished WRC challenger’ and based on the new C3, as you have probably surmised. It has a 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol that makes 380bhp, 80bhp more than the 2015 car.
That noticeable hike in power comes increasing the turbo flange (what a great word) by 36mm. Meanwhile the C3 is bigger than the 2015 DS3 WRC – it is, in fact, wider than a C4 Picasso MPV – yet weighs 25 fewer kilograms, at 1,175kg before the driver and co-driver get in.
It also has a front spoiler for more downforce at the front, a larger rear spoiler put as far back as possible for more downforce at the rear and an electronic differential lock, making it is about as far removed from the standard family runaround as humanly possible.
Besides looking like one bad-ass rally car, the C3 WRC Concept could pave the way for a hot hatch version we can all buy, giving the Fiesta ST something to worry about. Unless Citroen keeps all 380bhp, in which case it is the Focus RS that should sleep with one eye open at night.
The C3 WRC will debut at the Monte Carlo Rally in January 2017, having been publically unveiled to the world at the Paris Motor Show, which starts on the 1st of October. Stay tuned for more.
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