The Juniors get underway in sunny Mexico

« When we started the C2 Junior Experience in 2007, a large number of the Junior Championship competitors were already Citroën drivers, » comments Jean-François Liénéré, who is in charge of Citroën Sport’s customer operation. « Now, with more than half the Junior field in a Citroën at the start of Rally Mexico, we’re once again pleased to note that we are clearly responding to our customers’ demands. »

As was the case last year, the Juniors have to nominate six rallies on which to score points. They have the choice of four gravel rounds and three asphalt events, now that the option of a snow rally has been taken off the calendar. Unusually the drivers will spend a lot of time outside Europe this year, as after Mexico the Junior calendar takes in the Jordan Rally as round two.

Martin Prokop, Aaron Burkart, and Shaun Gallagher will start in Mexico with their C2 Super 1600. Francisco Fanari, at the wheel of a C2-R2 for the first time run by Team Transylvania. Two more drivers will be competing over the rest of the Junior Championship with a Citroën, Vilius Rozukas from Latvia (C2 Super 1600) and Hans Weijs – a Dutch driver, supported by his national Federation - in the new C2-R2 MAX.

Rally Mexico is this year’s very first gravel encounter, and the route is largely identical to the previous editions of the event. Only two of the stages are slightly altered, but for all of Citroën’s Junior drivers Mexico will be a brand new experience.

Alexis Avril, technical manager of the C2 Junior Experience, explains: « What sets this rally apart is the fact that the service park and stages are all at high altitude. In fact this is the highest event of the entire World Rally Championship, with the Ortega stage peaking at 2700 metres. The altitude puts a lot of strain on the mechanicals and saps the power from the engines. »

Rally Mexico will get underway with a start ceremony on Thursday night in Guanajuato, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Five spectator superspecials are also planned over the course of all three days of the rally. The stages are based around the city of Leon, on surfaces that can sometimes be quite rocky and roads that tend to cut up after the WRC cars have passed through. For the Junior drivers, a cautious approach will pay dividends on the opening round of the championship.

To be noted the participation of Frenchman Sébastien Ogier co-driven by Julien Ingrassia in the Junior championship. They will carry the colours of Citroën and the Equipe de France FFSA (the French motorsport federation). « Sébastien Ogier will be the only French driver in the championship, » adds Jean-François Liénéré. « He and Julien will be facing a huge challenge in their first year of the World Championship: to try and win the Junior series. For reasons of fairness, decision was made that Sébastien won’t be taking part in the C2 Junior Experience. »