Three out of three for Mads Østberg and the C3 R5 in the WRC2!

Hat-trick! Mads Østberg and Citroën Racing produced another excellent result in topping the WRC2 standings at Rally Estonia in the C3 R5, their third win in as many outings this season. The Red Army had prepared perfectly for the resumption of the WRC by competing at Rally Liepaja in Latvia (2nd) as part of the ERC, before then running a productive development test in the country. This weekend, Mads used all of his talent and experience of the rally (overall winner here in 2011 and 2012) to grab the early lead in the category. Although he lost the lead briefly after picking up a puncture, he wasted no time in moving back to the top of the standings. Completely at ease on the incredibly fast stages – which call for drivers to be fully committed at all times – Mads went on to seal a dominant victory, winning fifteen out of the total of seventeen stages. The result means that he is now twenty points clear of his nearest challenger in the championship standings. “I hadn't raced here for eight years,” admitted the Norwegian at the finish. “The itinerary of the rally was more technical, not quite as fast and with more jumps than I remembered, but there was the same atmosphere! We prepared well for the rally and we converted all the hard work we had put in beforehand into a fine win.” The C3 R5s enjoyed a strong overall performance in Estonia with Marco Bulacia, Nicolas Ciamin and Yohan Rossel finishing fourth, sixth and ninth respectively in the WRC3, despite their inexperience at the rally and having to face stiff competition from local drivers in their category. Bulacia’s fourth place finish takes him into second position in the championship standings ahead of the forthcoming rounds.

WRC championship update

Local hero Ott Tänak (Hyundai i20 WRC) opened his account with his new South Korean team at the first edition of Rally Estonia to feature on the WRC calendar. The win moved the Estonian up to third position in the drivers’ standings, just thirteen points behind Sébastien Ogier (Toyota Yaris WRC). The Frenchman still leads the championship, after finishing third this weekend. His team-mate Elfyn Evans (Toyota Yaris WRC), fourth on Estonia’s ultra-fast stages, is sandwiched between Ogier and Tänak in the drivers’ standings, nine points behind the leader. The championship heads south for the next round, to the rough and twisty roads of Rally Turkey (18-20 September).

Did you know?

Official fuel supplier for the WRC since 2019, Total has developed a highly versatile fuel with its Total Excellium Rally. Not only it is able to cope with a large range of temperatures at the various events, but it has also been designed to get the absolute maximum from the WRCs’ high-performance turbo engines, as well as the turbo engines on the R2 cars used in the Junior WRC, which are much closer to those found on production cars, and normally-aspirated engines.