Ten WRC rounds aboard a C4Estonian driver Urmo Aava and co-driver Kuldar Sikk recently signed a contract with Citroën Sport which will allow them to drive a Citroën C4 WRC in ten World Rally Championship events this year. The pair will also make an appearance during the
summer in their national South Estonian Rally.
Several test sessions are additionally planned in order to cover as many kilometers as possible with the Citroën car.
Aava and Sikk participated successfully in the Junior World Rally Championship between 2003 and 2007, winning the Turkish rally in 2006 and in Sardinia last year. The pair finished the last two seasons of the series in second position and also made a step up to the WRC-car level in 2007, running three rallies and scoring their first three championship points.
The world-class Citroën C4 WRC should help them in playing at the highest level of the sport as well as gaining speed and experience. The main target of the season is to get stunning finishes and decrease to a minimum the gap with the top drivers.
"We are delighted that Urmo Aava has decided to choose the Citroën C4 WRC. Citroën Sport Technologies will bring its full technical support to the team running his car on the ten rounds he has selected for his program in the World Rally championship," said Benoit Nogier, the man in charge of Citroën Sport Technologies.
"This is the start of a new collaboration and we hope for good results with a promising driver throughout the season," he added.
Thanks to his sponsors, Aava is able to continue his career within the WRC in partnership with the French manufacturer: "We were negotiating for a long time with the main teams and today we believe that the 2008 contract with Citroën Sport, who will provide us their huge sporting experience and a winning car, could be the start of a long-term cooperation."
The 28-year-old is scheduled to work on the Rally Monte Carlo recce despite not participating in the race itself.
"It will bring us a perfect acclimatization with the team members and a valuable preparation for the 2010 event," Aava explained. "Our opening event will be the snowy Swedish Rally at the beginning of February."
Apart from Monte Carlo, he will also miss Mexico, Argentina, Japan and New Zealand, which represent only a third of the 2008 calendar.
