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Citroën revels in ‘dream’ début weekend

Citroën Racing enjoyed a ‘dream’ début World Touring Car Championship weekend in Morocco, with drivers José María López and Sébastien Loeb both taking victories on the streets of Marrakech.

The manufacturer enjoyed a perfect start to it’s WTCC campaign in the opening race of the day, where López led home a Citroën 1-2-3 and in the process enjoyed the honour of taking the French marque’s first-ever victory in the series.

López also took Citroën’s first pole position on Saturday and as a result leads the driver’s championship from Loeb by a single point thanks to the bonus points picked up during qualifying. Yvan Muller’s weekend did not go as smoothly as that of his colleagues, however. After finishing third in the opening race of the day, the Frenchman was caught out in a start-line accident involving Tom Coronel in race two.

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Having taken the first win for Citroën, and his second in the WTCC, López admits that it will be a day to stay in his memory for a long time to come.

“I’m really proud to be part of this team and this is a day I will remember for a long time,” said López. “For race one, I knew that the most important moment would be the start. Getting out in front early on made it easier for me to let my brakes cool down. It was a difficult race, but the second one was harder.

“I was lucky enough to avoid the accident that Yvan got caught up in. I was then able to climb up the field and move into second without taking any risks. Congratulations to Sébastien on his win. You’d think he’d been competing in this championship for years!”

Former World Rally champion Sébastien Loeb also enjoyed a dream start to his début in touring car racing, finishing second in the opening race before following it up with his first-ever victory in the second race of the day, having started from ninth on the grid.

Loeb praised Citroën’s development of his C-Elysée WTCC, which allowed him to take victory in only his second-ever WTCC race –  a statistic that he also shares with López, who won on his début in Argentina in 2013.

I didn’t know what to expect today, but Citroën have developed a fantastic car,” said Loeb. “The balance of the chassis, the engine… everything was perfect.

“We could have battled it out between us, but it was impossible to find a way past Pechito in the first race. He didn’t make any mistakes and I decided to settle for second when the brakes started to heat up. In race two, I was lucky at the start too. After that, we were faster than the competition and we were able to move out in front.”

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