DS3 R3 joins the Citroën Racing range

Citroën has presented its all new DS3 R3, a car that is supposed to continue Citroën Racing’s tradition of offering products designed for customers. The Citroën DS3 R3 is set to make its rallying debut at the end of 2010 on the new Group R3T. According to the French brand the new rally car is “Versatile, high performance and yet affordably-priced.”

The DS3 R3 is powered by a four cylinder 1.6-litre THP engine. Although it has been developed using the PSA production engine, the engine fitted in the rally car has specific racing parts, such as air box, camshaft, pistons, connecting rods, exhaust and turbo systems, electronic unit, etc., which have been placed to enhance its power up to 210 bhp. One of the main focuses of Citroën Racing engineers was to handle the DS3 R3 more torque (350 Nm) in order to improve its traction.

Benefitting from Citroën’s long experience in the World Rally Championship the DS3 R3 will be equipped with the same six-speed semiautomatic sequential control as the C4 WRC. This technology makes gear changes as quick as a manual gearbox and also improves the consistency of the car’s engine.

As for its suspension system, the DS3 R3 is equipped with the latest technologies in order to be used on all road surfaces, from rough gravel to smooth tarmac. Citroën is offering a large variety of setup options which make the vehicle adaptable to all driving styles.

Since it left the design office in August 2009, the DS3 R3 has already made 10,000 kms of development testing in different types of road surfaces. With different drivers taking part in the tests, according to Citroën all of them “agreed that the car was easy to drive”. Three highlights were underlined: the torque of the 1.6-litre engine, the semiautomatic gearbox and the suspension.