Citroen team principal Olivier Quesnel has laughed off suggestions that the French World Rally team is at war with British-based rival Ford.
The story came about after Petter Solberg's co-driver Chris Patterson pushed Sebastien Loeb's Citroen DS3 WRC following the final stage of Rally Sweden last month (ABOVE). The seven-time champion's car refused to start and was alleged to be blocking the road. Ford was reported to suspect that the outside assistance regulations had been infringed by the two Citroen crews.
Quesnel said: "I'm told we are at war with Ford. I had a meeting with Malcolm [Wilson, Ford team boss] as I always do on the Thursday morning on a WRC round, and we laughed about this – we have no problem at all. I have read the regulation and I am happy that we did not do anything wrong, I would do it again."
Wilson agreed: "I don't have a problem with this. We will monitor [the regulation] as I think the FIA will be for the rest of the year. But, at the end of the day, Olivier and I are working together and having Ford and Citroen is good for the WRC – and that's what we all want."