Citroen's driver-choice conundrum

Happy with my Nike Town-sourced dri-fit knit kit, I headed west to Magic and Sparkle at Marble Arch... for two tubs of Extremely Chocolately Caramel Bites.

It's not just Yves Matton who finds himself in a quandary at the moment...

Dani Sordo's maiden World Rally Championship win in Germany last week does, however, make Matton's job harder than ever. Finally, the likeable Spaniard has delivered and helped to play Citroen back into the frame for this year's manufacturers' title. But what about the rest of the season?

Year after year, Sordo kept his Citroen seat (before he was briefly binned in favour of Sebastien Ogier/Mikko Hirvonen) after mediocre gravel results were clouded by some late-season asphalt strength. The difference then was the point-hauling, winning machine Sebastien Loeb was still leading the team to yet another title. And, while the superstar Frenchman will be back one last time at home in October, Matton's still got to think about Spain, Britain and next season.

Kris Meeke drives the second factory Citroen for the first time in Australia (he was in Khalid Al-Qassimi's Abu Dhabi car in Finland) and finishing the job he started in Jyvaskyla in Coffs Harbour would surely put him in a very strong position for Wales and, given the day-one gravel content, even Salou.

Sordo was superb in Germany, but was it too late? © LAT

Sordo deserved his success in Trier. But we have to be realistic, it's not about to bring a flurry of rally wins. It's not like he's been knocking on the door of winning rallies all year. He hasn't. Far from it.

Prior to last week, Sordo had been surrounded by the best possible World Rally Championship hardware 80 times. And 18 times, he brought a brilliant Xsara/C4/DS3 World Rally Car home in second place. And 12 of those 18 rallies were run across a sealed surface.

Sordo's talent on asphalt is sublime; his ability to look for and find grip on the black-top ragged edge is well documented. But, almost by his own admission, Dani is a driver who now harks back to the WRC's golden era. He's a specialist: a Gilles Panizzi or a Harri Rovanpera, except he's one who slipped through the net and bagged a full-time seat.

Granted, there have been moments of gravel greatness. He could and probably should have won the Acropolis in 2008 (instead, he got a puncture and finished fifth), but often results flatter to deceive. Look deeper into his second place on the 2008 Rally New Zealand and you'll remember that was the rally when Ford's Finns dropped the ball badly on Whaanga Coast, with Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala crashing out of second and third place on the penultimate stage.

Sordo is very popular with the Citroen team © XPB

For a driver whose distaste for changeable levels of grip is well documented, Sordo's done very well to keep his seat for so long. Undoubtedly, his ever-cheerful demeanour helps. The 30-year-old's victory was unquestionably the most popular first World Rally Championship win since Petter Solberg danced on the roof of his Subaru in Wales 11 years ago.

I wasn't in Trier to see Sordo's special moment. A family celebration kept me in London late last week and then allowed me to spend the weekend at Jody's place.

Jody being Scheckter. His place being Laverstoke Park.

The occasion was CarFest South, Chris Evans's gathering of the best tucker, tunes and motors around in the 1979 Formula 1 World Champion's own organic backyard. If Goodwood's Festival of Speed is too hardcore car for you, this is the place to go. Don't get me wrong, there's more than enough motorsport if you want it... the six-wheeled, history-making, 1976 Swedish Grand Prix-winning Tyrrell P34 was there with its winner behind the wheel. But, at the same time, there was a desk, complete with pen pots and pot plants, being driven up the same gentle incline.

Away from the cars, Hampshire's biggest herd of water buffalo was put to very good use, providing the content for some great mozzarella and ice cream before making the ultimate sacrifice - burgered between two slices of bread.

Jody Scheckter with his six-wheeled Tyrrell at CarFest

And all of that to a backdrop of Texas, Keane and Scouting for Girls. Granted, this wasn't exactly hard-edged indie, but the music, quite literally, hit just the right note for what is fast becoming one of the season's highlights.

I have to confess, I'm a big fest-fan and, where possible, my year won't be without both Goodwoods, the Pageant of Power and now CarFest. I would say, however, that CarFest North at Oulton Park didn't offer anything like the conviviality of overgrown village fete fever achieved at Cholmondeley Castle last year. CarFest is about more than cars (maybe it should be called FestFest), but Oulton's perfect facilities are all about racing and the spacey, clinical environment cost the event some of its atmosphere.

Anyway, CarFest was a big hit, so go if you get the chance.

Now, back to the matters that matter for Matton.

The first big question comes in a month. Spain and Salou, what to do? Season-long indications are that the local hero will be eaten alive on the dirt and, it has to be said, the early indications from Rally Germany were that he mightn't be able to make that time up on the asphalt. Both Volkswagen drivers led and M-Sport's Thierry Neuville showed himself to be the sport's shining star right now.

Neuville's moment will come - and it will come considerably quicker than Sordo's came. The Belgian's third consecutive second place and fourth consecutive podium have marked him out as a team leader for the Cumbrians next year. And a world champion soon after.

So, Yves, there we have it. I'll leave you to your conundrum, while I crack open the second tub of Caramel Bites and think about unpacking my new kit.