Citroen Confirms Loeb, Ogier for 2011 WRC

Sebastien Ogier will drive for Citroen in the World Rally Championship until 2013. All Ford's hopes of signing the Frenchman have gone down the drain yesterday evening, when Citroen's motorsport boss Olivier Quesnel confirmed Sebastien Loeb and Sebastien Ogier will drive for the French marque next season.

While Ogier's deal was signed for the upcoming 3 years, Loeb again signed up for one additional season with the manufacturer. 2011 will be his 11th season with Citroen, for whom he will now drive a 3rd different rally car, the DS3 – after the Xsara and the C4 WRC models.

“Obviously, it's a double dose of satisfaction for Citroen Racing. Not content to have the greatest set of results in the history of rallying, Sebastien Loeb is still as hungry as ever for more victories and titles. His experience, his race intelligence, and his capacity to get 100 per cent out his cars, will be all the more crucial as we'll have a new car next season,” said Quesnel.

“Citroen Racing has been preparing for the future with Sebastien Ogier for some time now. This is why we wanted to sign a contract with him for the next three seasons.”

According to Ogier, he did not take too long to decide between his Citroen and Ford options.

“I'd like to thank Citroen for renewing its confidence in me, and what's more, for three seasons. I made my world championship debut with this team, and I've always said that my priority was to stay with them,” said the Rally Portugal winner, who had already been confirmed as Citroen works driver for the remaining gravel rallies in 2010.

“I'm thrilled at the idea of driving the new generation World Rally Cars, and of defending the colours of the make at the topmost level. Like Sebastien, I'm fully concentrated on the end of this season starting with the Finnish Rally, where I'll be part of the Citroen Total World Rally Team for the first time,” added the Frenchman.

“My contract with Citroen allowed me to stop at the end of this year. But my motivation and my will to win are still as strong as ever,” said Loeb, who added that his main priority now, after securing his 2011 season, is to clinch a 7th consecutive WRC title.

As for his current teammate Dani Sordo, the Spaniard will remain a Citroen driver for the 2011 season, as confirmed by Quesnel, but a final budget will be decided upon in the upcoming few weeks (or months) in order to see how his programme will go down next year.

“Dani Sordo is still part of our plans for next year, but we have to finalize our budgets before announcing the full programme,” concluded Quesnel.