Abu Dhabi Total World Rally Team was a semi-private rally team that competed in the World Rally Championship in the season.
The team was approved by Citroën Racing and run by its customer racing partner, PH Sport. The team was supported by Abu Dhabi Racing, and its chairman Khalid Al-Qassimi was also a competitor with the team on some rallies during the season.
History
Citroën withdrew its World Rally Team from the WRC in 2016 in order to focus resources on developing a new regulation car for use in the 2017 season onwards. Although, they continued to support the team unofficially, asking PH Sport to run the Abu Dhabi Total WRT on most events with drivers Kris Meeke, Craig Breen and Khalid Al-Qassimi, with occasional drives from Stephane Lefebvre, Marcos Ligato, Quentin Gilbert and José Alberto Nicolas. Meeke's win in Rally Finland at set the record for the fastest average speed in the history of the World Rally Championship. This record remains as of February 2023.
With Citroën's decision to take a sabbatical as works team in preparations for 2017 PH-Sport took over as the manufacturer's de facto leading team. Competing under the Abu Dhabi Total World Rally Team the team competed in selected events with Kris Meeke as their leading driver, while at some events the other cars were shared between Stéphane Lefebvre, Craig Breen and Khalid Al-Qassimi. The team however was not registered as a manufacturer team and therefore was not eligible to score manufacturer points.
WRC Results Year Entrant Car No Driver 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 WDC Points WMC Points 2016 Abu Dhabi Total World Rally Team Citroën DS3 WRC 7 Kris Meeke MON SWE MEX ARG POR ITA FIN GER CHN FRA ESP GBR AUS 9th 64 – – Stéphane LefebvrePOL 13th 14 8 Stéphane Lefebvre MON SWE MEX ARG POR ITA AUS Craig Breen POL FIN GER CHN FRA ESP GBR 10th 36 14 Khalid Al-Qassimi MON SWE MEX ARG POR ITA POL FIN GER CHN FRA ESP AUS NC 0 Stéphane Lefebvre GBR 13th 14 15 Craig Breen MON SWE MEX ARG POR ITA GBR AUS 10th 36 16 Quentin Gilbert MON SWE MEX ARG POR ITA POL FIN GER CHN FRA ESP GBR AUS NC 0
See also Citroën Racing Citroën World Rally Team Citroën Junior Team PH Sport
References
External links
Citroën Racing homepage Citroën at wrc.com Abu Dhabi Total World Rally Team homepage