Sebastién Loeb extended his contract with the Citroën World Rally team on Wednesday, ending speculation that the defending champion would leave the World Rally Championship if he won his eighth title this year.

Loeb, who has held the world champion title since claiming it in 2004, has been with Citroën since 2001 and will continue racing with the team through the 2013 season.

“With the arrival of other manufacturers in the championship, the competition is going to get tougher in the years to come,” said Loeb. “All the more so with the rule changes concerning the starting order coming in 2012, as all the drivers will be fighting on a level playing field. To take the fight to them, I’m putting my trust in Citroën, a team I know inside-out, and the DS3 WRC, the car that I helped set up with Citroën Racing.”

Loeb leads the WRC standings by 27 points over Miko Hirvonen.

source from: autoweek

Following on from 2008’s striking GTbyCitroen concept car, French automaker Citroen has unveiled a brand new concept car designed for the compact sports car segment. The latest concept was developed in partnership with the fashion experts GQ magazine and has been designed to provide “the ultimate gentleman’s drive”.

The new concept is called the GQ by Citroen and it’s powered by an advanced plug-in hybrid drivetrain consisting of a 1.6-liter four-cylinder gasoline engine. Few details have been revealed thus far but according to its designers the car can accelerate from 0-60 mph in 4.5 seconds and has an electronically limited top speed of 155mph.

Key people who worked on the car included GQ editor Dylan Jones and interior stylist Patrick Grant.

The Citroen GQ concept will be unveiled at a special event in London next week so stay tuned for an update.

Source:motorauthority.com