The Citroen World Rally Team insists that the layoffs and financial cutbacks announced by the French manufacturer last week will not affect the company's commitment to the World Rally Championship.
PSA Peugeot Citroen announced 8,000 redundancies and the shutdown of one car-producing factory last Thursday after it was announced that it had sold 13 percent fewer cars around the world in the first half of 2012 compared with the same period in 2011. There was immediate concern that Citroen's WRC campaign could be cut, in the same way Peugeot's endurance effort was mothballed at the turn of the year.
A spokeswoman from Citroen Racing said: "The announcement of last week won't impact our WRC program. However, we are doing our best to look at options to reduce the financial support of the brand in our sporting package."
Citroen has existing driver contracts with Sebastien Loeb, Mikko Hirvonen, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Thierry Neuville. Loeb is currently considering a clause in his contract which would allow him to walk away from the team with which he has won eight world titles, if he should decide to retire at the end of 2012. A decision from Loeb is expected in the coming weeks.