1000 Miglia : Citroen Sport - FinishA promising rally for the Citroën C2 S1600 of Simon Jean-Joseph and Jack Boyère was cut short by an electrical problem 15 kilometres into SS10.
The second leg of the 31st Rally 1000 Miglia – which kicked off the 2007 European
Championship – consisted of two identical loops of three stages, comprising 150 competitive kilometres.
Simon Jean-Joseph had more or less got to grips with his new Citroën C2 during the opening leg on Friday. He steadily increased his pace to lead the Super 1600 category, having set fastest time on SS3.
"We used the following stages to increase our advantage and get past the other registered European Championship competitors," he said. The man from Martinique was held back by a puncture on SS6, but he ended the opening leg with the bit between his teeth.
"In the afternoon, we pushed hard to try and get back some of the time lost," he said. "That allowed me to see that all the work we had done together with Alexis Avril (chief engineer for Citroën Sport's customer division) and the entire PH-Sport team was really paying off. I liked the C2's set-up and we were able to get into the top 10 a few times (10th on SS7/9 and 9th on SS8), which we certainly hadn't counted on at the start."
Having fought back to second place in the Super 1600 by the time he took the start on the second morning, Simon had high hopes for Leg Two. "We've seen that are able to go very quickly in the C2, which definitely gives us front-running potential,"he said.
Simon was on a mission to attack. With just one spare wheel in the boot in order to make the car even lighter, Simon and Jack left service absolutely determined to catch up with their rivals in the Super 1600 category and the European Championship. However, an electrical problem in SS10 scuppered their plans.
"It was really frustrating," said Simon.
"The car stopped and we just weren't able to get it going again, which was a real pity. I'm sure that we had the chance of getting a really good result. A small consolation is the fact that we set some good times yesterday and that I'm developing a really good feeling with the Citroën C2 S1600 now. This rally also marked the start of an excellent collaboration with PH-Sport and everybody else at Citroën."
Yves Matton, Citroën Sport's customer competition manager, shared Simon's frustration. "It's a real shame that all the hard work from Citroën Sport and PH-Sport was ruined by a manufacturing defect in a component from one of our suppliers," he said.
"Before the problem, Simon and Jack's performances demonstrated that the C2 is competitive with all the other European Championship contenders. This is very encouraging for the rest of the season, where we will have to be both fast and reliable," Matton concluded.
Press Release Citroen Sport
