The team’s results speak for themselves: victories in the constructors’ cup in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2008; Sébastien Loeb became champion in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011. For the past seven years, Citroen has been out of reach of other teams.
Such successes have come relatively recently. Until 1996, all the attention of the manufacturer was focused on off-road rally-raids, where the car ZX Rally Raid was performing, and Citroen had no serious success in rallying at the highest level. However, by the mid-90s it seriously returned to classic rallying. In the early years, the team worked on the ZX hatchback, on which the master of asphalt racing, Jesus Puras, became champion of Spain. In 1998, however, it was decided to work on the Xsara. This work began in 1999, and its result was the Xsara WRC.
His full-fledged world rally debut was in 2001 at the Rally Catalunya. The start was impressive: Jesus Puras and Philippe Bugalski went first and second before dropping out for technical reasons. Bugalski was sixth in the gravel stage in Greece, but the Xsara showed its true strength on asphalt – Puras led in Sanremo and won in France. Meanwhile, young Frenchman Sébastien Loeb became champion in the Super 1600 classification at the wheel of a Citroen Saxo. He later joined the main team and finished second in Sanremo.