TNT Sports
Second chance for Duval
By
Published 14/06/2005 at 15:25 GMT+1
Rally champions Citroen have given under-performing Belgian Francois Duval a second chance after dropping him last month when his co-driver walked out." It has been decided that from the Rally of Argentina, Francois Duval will be the second official driver," Citroen said in a statement on Tuesday.
Eurosport
Image credit: TNT Sports
The Argentina round runs from July 15-17.
Belgian Sven Smeets will be Duval's new co-driver after compatriot Stephane Prevot decided he had had enough following a crash in last month's Cyprus Rally.
Duval, who joined Citroen from Ford at the end of last year, was replaced temporarily by Spain's former champion Carlos Sainz who came out of retirement to take fourth place in Turkey.
Sainz, 43, has agreed to continue in this month's Acropolis Rally in Greece.
Team boss Guy Frequelin said he had serious discussions with the young Belgian, whose role is to support series leader Sebastien Loeb of France and help Citroen retain the championship.
"The unsuspected misunderstanding between Francois and Stephane since the start of the year, which reached its climax in Cyprus, certainly had a bad influence on their respective capacities," he said.
"It's important to put Francois back behind the wheel as I believe he is young driver with good potential.
"His comeback should be a chance for him to rise successfully to the missions he has been given: to bring his car to the finish and score manufacturers points. It's the target I set him, that he accepted."
Advertisement
Advertisement