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.[1] 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.[2][3]
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.[4] 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.[5] Meeke's win in Rally Finland at 126.6 km/h set the record for the fastest average speed in the history of the World Rally Championship.[6] This record remains as of February 2023.[7]
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.
See also
External links
References
- History retrieved 2023-10-11^
- Agency. Citroen Al Qassimi's drive to promote Abu Dhabi The National, 2012-10-03, retrieved 2023-10-11^
- Kris Meeke, Craig Breen and Khalid Al Qassimi gear up for high-speed Rally Finland