Simon Jean-Joseph will make a 'guest' appearance in the Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Rally Championship next week when he takes in the Pirelli International Rally, the opening round in the series.
The 2007 European Rally champion is doing the event as part of his European programme with the new Citroen C2-R2 MAX, the purpose of which is to demonstrate the competitiveness of the car.
Jean-Joseph recently did the all-asphalt Eger Rally in Hungary and got his season off to a successful start by taking the class win and finishing 19th overall - an impressive achievement given it was the debut outing for the C2-R2 MAX.
Now he heads to Carlisle and is once again gunning for class glory, even though he has no experience of the stages.
"I am very happy that the Citroën C2-R2 MAX's gravel debut will come in England - in the epic Kielder forest that has been such a monument to motorsport in general and the RAC Rally in particular," he stated. "For me it will be a question of discovering the rally and the terrain.
"I know that the local drivers, who are specialists in the region, will be very quick. From what Jack [Boyere – my co-driver] has said, I gather that the stages will be very quick, narrow and bumpy - with several blind corners.
"To make matters even more difficult, there are deep ditches on either side of the road just waiting to welcome you. There can be a lot of fog in the area and it rains regularly: all in all, it's easy to see just what a challenge this event is!
"After our excellent performance in Hungary, our objective in Britain will be to claim victory once more in the two-wheel drive class."
Jean-François Liénéré, who looks after Citroen Sport's customer competition programme, meanwhile is also hoping they can take the class win again.
![New Citroen C2-R2 MAX [Pic credit: Citroen Communication/DPPI]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/388931.jpg)
