Hirvonen thinks Citroen could rue decision to limit Rally GB testing
Citroen's decision to limit its Rally GB test to one day with Robert Kubica will put it on the back foot for the World Rally Championship finale, reckons Mikko Hirvonen
Sebastien Loeb won Rally GB for Citroen from 2008-10, but the team's current DS3 WRC has never won in Wales.
Last year Citroen stayed on for an extra test there following its heavy defeat by Jari-Matti Latvala's factory Ford.
World Rally Car debutant Kubica was the only factory Citroen driver to test this week, when he drove the DS3 WRC for a day in Taliesin on Sunday.
Hirvonen said he could understand the decision to give Kubica time in the car, but was concerned about his and Dani Sordo's lack of running.
"Robert has never driven the car, so that makes sense for him to have some time, but this situation is not ideal for us," said Hirvonen.
"I just have those two runs in shakedown and then I go to what is going to be a very important qualifying stage.
"It's not ideal at all - especially not when Volkswagen has done a long test and they come to the rally with a good feeling for the conditions."
The Finn believes qualifying will be particularly crucial this week as the muddy stage conditions will worsen for cars further down the order.
"Normally in GB you want to be first car on the road and if you can't do that then it's going to be very difficult to fight for the win, that's for sure," said Hirvonen.
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About this article
| Series | WRC |
| Drivers | Mikko Hirvonen |
| Author | David Evans |
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