Japan : Citroen Sport - Preview
Ten days after the traumatic events of Wales Rally GB, the World Championship fraternity heads east into the rising sun for Rally Japan, an event that counted towards the series for the first time last year. Citroen has entered two Xsara WRCs for its usual crews Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena and François Duval/Sven Smeets.
Clear leaders in the Drivers` championship with a cushion of 34 points over their closest rivals, defending champions Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena have a chance to clinch their second consecutive title in Japan. For that, all they need is to obtain six points, the equivalent of finishing in 3rd place.
Yokoso! Welcome to Hokkaido! The Japanese WRC round effectively takes place on the country`s northernmost island and is based in the relatively new city of Obihiro which lies at the heart of the vast agricultural Tokachi Plain. The city features a grid-pattern street layout and is situated some 50 to 100km south of the forested hills which host the event`s gravel stages and this relatively big distance necessitates long road sections between the service park and the competitive action`s epicentre. Day 1 features an extremely long stage (more than 50 km) which has been obtained by grafting two of 2004`s tests end to end. Meanwhile, to break up the long trip out to and from Leg 2`s stages, the organisers have introduced a number of new, short stages along the way. Finally, Day 3`s stages are all repeats of tests run last year.
Ask the drivers what they think of the Japanese stages and they will tell you they are fast and narrow, an impression reinforced by the presence of tall grass either side which conceals the apexes of a good many corners. As far as the surface goes, last year`s visit revealed that what seemed to be dry stages could easily turn slippery after the passage of just a few cars through the combined effect of their cutting through the topmost crust and dragging dirt onto the road from the inside of corners.
In addition to the relative lack of knowledge of the stages, the weather is another major unknown. September is traditionally marked by heavy rain on the island of Hokkaido and the weather was effectively wet just prior to last year`s rally, although the 2004 event took place a month earlier. A big question mark hangs over what the weather will be during the 2005 rally`s late- September/early-October slot which basically corresponds with the beginning of autumn.
"As far as set-up goes, we tend to compare Rally Japan with Wales Rally GB," explains the team`s Technical Manager Xavier Mestelan- Pinon. "In fact, it`s in Wales that we prepared the spectrum of settings for Japan as well as testing the different products developed by Michelin."
In 2004, Seb and Daniel were in contention for victory until middle of Leg 2 when they chose to settle for 2nd place and 8 points. François Duval posted a fastest stage time and figured in 6th before retiring on Sunday morning. These results, combined with the progress achieved by the Xsara WRC and the ‘plus` represented by Michelin`s Z BTO tyre permit Citroën to nourish high hopes for 2005`s visit to Japan.


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