| Full name | Citroën Junior Team |
|---|---|
| Base | Versailles, France |
| Team principal(s) | Benoit Nogier |
| Drivers | Sébastien Ogier Kimi Räikkönen Dani Sordo |
| Co-drivers | Julien Ingrassia Kaj Lindström Diego Vallejo |
| Chassis | Citroën C4 |
| Tyres | Pirelli |
| World Rally Championship career | |
| Debut | 2009 |
| Constructors' Championships | 0 |
| Drivers' Championships | 0 |
| Rally wins | 1 |
The Citroën Junior Team was a World Rally Championship team, which competed in the 2009 and 2010 seasons. It was set up and run as Citroën's secondary team in the World Rally Championship, pitched against the existing Stobart Ford World Rally Team.
The team was run by French preparation firm PH Sport along with Citroën Racing Technologies. It was revived in 2012.[1]
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PH Sport and Citroën Sport Technologies ran semi-privateer Citroën C4 WRCs for Conrad Rautenbach and Urmo Aava during the 2008 World Rally Championship season.[2]
The Citroën Junior Team team was formed in 2009 following the withdrawal of manufacturers Subaru and Suzuki. It ran Citroën C4s for Russian Evgeny Novikov, Zimbabwean Conrad Rautenbach and Junior World Rally Championship champion Sébastien Ogier. It ran former Subaru driver Chris Atkinson rather than Novikov on the season-opening Rally Ireland, although despite a good performance, the Australian did not feature in the team again. Petter Solberg was nominated to score manufacturer points for the team at Rally GB.[3] Solberg finished fourth there, with another driver of Citroën Junior Team Aaron Burkart finishing 12th in his first WRC rally with WRC car.
On 4 December 2009, it was announced that 2007 Formula One World Champion Kimi Räikkönen would drive for the Citroën Junior Team for his switch to rallying.[4] Räikkönen's co-driver would be Kaj Lindström who had partnered multiple world champion Tommi Mäkinen in the past, while Sébastien Ogier and co-driver Julien Ingrassia were in a second car for the Junior Team.
Räikkönen and Lindström contested 12 out of the 13 rounds in the 2010 WRC season, missing only the Rally of New Zealand. They did not start at 2010 Rally Catalunya because of a crash at the pre-event shakedown.
Sébastien Ogier claimed Citroën Junior Team's best result, winning at 2010 Rally de Portugal. Because of his strong finishes he was promoted to Citroën World Rally Team for gravel rallies (Finland, Japan, Wales) while Dani Sordo switched to Citroën Junior Team for those rallies. The best result for Kimi Räikkönen was 5th place at 2010 Rally of Turkey.
The 'Junior Team' banner has been dropped for 2011, Citroen Racing Technologies instead focussing the brand's customer efforts on Petter Solberg, Peter Van Merksteijn, Jr. and Kimi Räikkönen's privateer campaigns.
| Year | Car | No | Driver | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | WDC | Points | TC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Citroën C4 WRC | 7 | Chris Atkinson | IRE 5 |
NOR | CYP | POR | ARG | ITA | GRE | POL | FIN | AUS | ESP | GBR | 14th | 4 | 4th | 47 | |
| Evgeny Novikov | IRE | NOR 11 |
CYP Ret |
POR Ret |
ARG | ITA 5 |
GRC 16 |
POL 9 |
FIN Ret |
AUS | ESP Ret |
GBR | 13th | 4 | ||||||
| 8 | Conrad Rautenbach | IRE 18 |
NOR Ret |
CYP 6 |
POR Ret |
ARG Ret |
ITA 9 |
GRE 5 |
POL 8 |
FIN Ret |
AUS Ret |
ESP 11 |
GBR 8 |
10th | 9 | |||||
| 11 | Petter Solberg | IRE | NOR | CYP | POR | ARG | ITA | GRE | POL | FIN | AUS | ESP | GBR 4 |
5th | 35 | |||||
| 12 | Sébastien Ogier | IRE 6 |
NOR 10 |
CYP Ret |
POR 17 |
ARG 7 |
ITA Ret |
GRE 2 |
POL Ret |
FIN 6 |
AUS 5 |
ESP 5 |
GBR Ret |
8th | 24 | |||||
| 16 | Aaron Burkart | IRE | NOR | CYP | POR | ARG | ITA | GRE | POL | FIN | AUS | ESP | GBR 12 |
- | 0 | |||||
| 2010 | Citroën C4 WRC | 7 | Sébastien Ogier | SWE 5 |
MEX 3 |
JOR 6 |
TUR 4 |
NZL 2 |
POR 1 |
BUL 4 |
DEU 3 |
FRA 6 |
ESP 10 |
4th | 167 | 3rd | 217 | |||
| Dani Sordo | FIN 5 |
JPN 4 |
GBR 5 |
5th | 150 | |||||||||||||||
| 8 | Kimi Räikkönen | SWE 29 |
MEX Ret |
JOR 8 |
TUR 5 |
NZL | POR 10 |
BUL 11 |
FIN 25 |
DEU 7 |
JPN Ret |
FRA Ret |
ESP DNS |
GBR 8 |
10th | 25 |
|
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