The Citroën Xsara WRC is a

World Rally Car A World Rally Car is a racing automobile built to the specific regulations set by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and designed for competition in the World Rally Championship (WRC). The cars were introduced in 1997 as a repl ...

built for the

Citroën World Rally Team The Citroën Total World Rally Team was the Citroën factory backed entry into the World Rally Championship, run by Citroën Racing. History 1990–1998 seasons The Citroën ZX Rally raid won the Rally raid Constructors' Championship in 1993, 1 ...

Citroën Racing Citroën Racing is a motorsport brand and department of the French automobile manufacturer, Citroën, ''Automobiles Citroën''. It is most notable for entering the Citroën World Rally Team into the World Rally Championship until 2019, thus helpin ...

to compete in the

World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is the highest level of global competition in the motorsport discipline of rallying, owned and governed by the FIA. There are separate championships for drivers, co-drivers, manufacturers and t ...

. It is based upon the

Citroën Xsara The Citroën Xsara () is a compact car, compact C-segment family car, produced by the France, French automaker PSA Peugeot Citroën, under their Citroën marque, from 1997 to 2006. The Xsara was a development of the Citroën ZX and Peugeot 306, w ...

road car. The car was introduced for the

2001 World Rally Championship season The 2001 World Rally Championship was the 29th season of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC). In a tightly contested year, Subaru's Richard Burns took his first and only drivers' world title, beating Ford's Colin McRae, Mitsubishi's Tommi M ...

and has taken first three of nine drivers' titles for

Sébastien Loeb Sébastien Loeb (; born 26 February 1974) is a French professional rallying, rally, auto racing, racing and rallycross driver. He is the most successful driver in the World Rally Championship (WRC), having won the world championship a record nin ...

, as well as the manufacturers' title in

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight ...

, and

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; " Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discover ...

Competition history

World Rally Championship

Jesús Puras - 1998 Rallye Villa de Llanes

Paris - Bonhams 2013 - Citroën Xsara WRC - 2003 - 001

The Xsara

, based on the road going Xsara hatchback but ultimately having very little resemblance to it under the skin, was one of the most successful cars ever to compete in the

. In 1999, the WRCs predecessor, the two wheel drive naturally aspirated Xsara Kit Car, won overall in

Rallye Catalunya The Rally Catalunya (formerly: Rallye Catalunya) is a Rallying, rally competition held in Catalonia region of Spain, on the World Rally Championship schedule. Now held on the wide, smooth and sweeping asphalt roads around the town of Salou, Cos ...

and

Tour de Corse The Tour de Corse is a rally first held in 1956 on the island of Corsica. It was the French round of the World Rally Championship from the inaugural 1973 season until 2008, was part of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge from 2011 to 2012, and ...

. This car was considered the best car in the class. The late

Philippe Bugalski Philippe Bugalski (12 June 1963 – 10 August 2012) was a French rally driver. Bugalski became a works Renault driver in the French Rally Championship in 1994. In 1998, he joined the works Citroën team, with whom he won the French national titl ...

placed seventh overall and won the Kit Car F2 class. In 2001, Kit Cars category disappeared and was replaced by Super 1600 and Super 2000. Citroën Xsara competed in the category of World Rally Car. In 2002, French driver

was supposed to win the Monte Carlo Rally but he was penalized for an illegal tyre change, but he later won the Deutschland Rally. In 2003, the Citroën Xsara was more competitive. In Wales GB, the leader Richard Burns suffered a blackout and withdrew from the rally. Sébastien Loeb made some mistakes on the last round and he lost the championship by just one point. However, the Citroën won the manufacturers' title. In 2004, Sébastien Loeb won the championship. Sébastien Loeb won 28 rallies with the car, three consecutive Driver's Championship titles from

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

, and

Citroën Citroën () is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded in March 1919 by André Citroën. Citroën is owned by Stellantis since 2021 and previously was part of the PSA Group after Peugeot acquired 8 ...

to three consecutive Manufacturer's Championship titles in

, and

. In addition to Leob piloting the Xsara WRC,

Jesús Puras Jesús Puras Vidal de la Peña (born March 16 1963), also known as 'Chus Puras', is a Spanish rally driver active in the World Rally Championship from 1991 to 2002. Puras was well known for his blistering performances on tarmac rallies. Career ...

, Carlos Sainz, and

François Duval François Duval (born 18 November 1980) is a Belgian rally driver. Career 1999–2004 Francois Duval is the son of former rally driver Rene Duval. With victories in four events Duval won the Belgian Citroën Saxo Challenge title in 1999. He ...

have also driven it to win since its 2001 conception. The car was replaced in 2007 by the

Citroën C4 WRC The Citroën C4 WRC is a World Rally Car built for the Citroën World Rally Team by Citroën Racing to compete in the World Rally Championship. It is based upon the Citroën C4 road car and replaced the Citroën Xsara WRC. The car was introduced ...

, however the Xsara was still used by privateers and others. World champion of

Petter Solberg Petter Solberg (born 18 November 1974) is a Norwegian former professional rally and rallycross driver. Solberg debuted in the World Rally Championship in 1998 and was signed by the Ford factory team in 1999. The following year, Solberg starte ...

drove a 2006 spec Xsara for the majority of the season of

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

, which was entered by his own Petter Solberg World Rally Team.

Rallycross

Kenneth Hansen won the

FIA European Rallycross Championship FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used. Fia or FIA may also refer to: People * Fia Backs ...

every year from 2000 to 2005. In September 2014, French based Lebanese businessman Nabil Karam entered the

2014 World RX of France The 2014 World RX of France was the 8th round of the inaugural season of the FIA World Rallycross Championship. The event was held at the Circuit de Lohéac in Loheac, Bretagne. Heats Semi-finals Semi-final 1 Semi-final 2 Final Cha ...

with an Xsara, finishing 34th out of 37 entrants after the qualifying heats, and failing to qualify for the semi finals. Having upgraded to a DS3 for the edition of

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

, this is the only time an Xsara has been used in a

FIA World Rallycross Championship The FIA World Rallycross Championship (official abbreviation is World RX) is a rallycross series organised by the FIA in conjunction with series promoter Rallycross Promoter GmbH (founded by Red Bull and KW25). From the inaugural season in 2014 ...

event.

WRC victories

WRC results

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Citroen Xsara WRC World Rally Cars Xsara WRC All-wheel-drive vehicles World Rally championship-winning cars