Tom Chilton will drive a Citroen C-Elysee in the World Touring Car Championship this year after completing a switch to Sebastien Loeb Racing.The Briton, who has three WTCC victories to his name, finished 11th overall in the championship last year in a TC1 Chevrolet Cruze with ROAL Motorsport and scored a best finish of third in the reverse grid race in Hungary.He will now race for the satellite Citroen squad having secured a one-year deal.Chilton completes SLR’s line-up for 2016, the squad having retained Mehdi Bennani for a second season while also adding Frenchman Gregoire Demoustier to its stable.
“I’m really happy with my move,” he told Autosport.
“It’s an incredibly positive step and Sebastien Loeb Racing has proved in such a short period of time in the championship to be so successful.
“It’s a privilege to be racing for Sebastien Loeb’s racing team.
“For the last couple of years I’ve tried my absolute hardest in that Chevrolet and tried every set up change under the sun and just couldn’t go any faster.”
The 30-year-old’s deal means that five C-Elysees will again compete in the championship this season.
SLR ran one car last season but with the works Citroen team having slimmed its factory programme from four cars to two ahead of its withdrawal as a manufacturer at the end of the year, Loeb’s satellite outfit has taken on another two machines for 2016.
Chilton will therefore race in one of the C-Elysees that the works team campaigned last year and expects to be in a strong position for his 15th season in touring cars.
“They’ve [Citroen] said it’s a satellite team and that they want us to do well because there’s the potential to sell more cars for the year after,” he said.
“So they have said ‘we’re going to try and give you the same stuff’ [as the factory cars].
“If there are any upgrades, they have said they’ll try to get them on the car at the same time but if they can’t manufacturer parts between the rounds because they’re so close together, we might be a round out.
“On the whole, they’ve kind of promised it’s the same kit; I’m excited about that.
“Mehdi Bennani is a good driver and he’s won races but he hasn’t got the experience I’ve got so I think it’ll be when I get the car that we really know where we’re at.”