SINGAPORE, Sept 24 — If you were a fan of the World Rally Championship (WRC) in the early noughties, a typical rally would be best described in the following manner: A bunch of manufacturers show up to race in a forest and a Citroen driver (usually WRC legend Sebastian Loeb) wins.

When the French manufacturer was last involved in WRC, it notched up race wins and titles with almost metronomic consistency, taking 96 WRC wins and eight World Rally Championships from 2003 to 2005 and 2008 to 2012.

Citroen has made motorsports success something of a habit since it first dipped its toes in the adrenaline-fuelled waters of motor racing in 1993, also winning Five Rally-Raid World Cups (from 1993 to 1997) and two World Touring Car Championships (WTCC) in 2014 and 2015.

The big news for fans of cars being driven at mind-boggling speeds on rough terrain is that Citroen will be returning to WRC next year and is putting serious mileage on its challenger that will be based on its C3. Driver Kris Meeke will spearhead the team’s WRC effort and Citroen will unveil its C3 WRC concept car at the Paris Motor Show next week.

Citroen says the C3 WRC concept is very close to the car that will make its competitive debut at the Monte Carlo Rally in January next year and will produce about 380bhp. — Today Online