Citroën's rally team puts the new Citroën Berlingo to the test

As if it were one of the official cars of the World Rally Championship, Citroën’s drivers climb into an all-new Berlingo as if it were a racing car

Esapekka Lappi and his co-driver Janne Ferm have had extra work between World Championship rounds. In addition to maintaining the physical and mental preparation expected of a driver and co-driver, they have climbed aboard a latest-generation Citroën Berlingo to put it through a unique test.

The new vehicle is keen to demonstrate its potential. So much so that they asked the racing team to subject the Citroën Berlingo to a test as if it were a rally car.

Hence the involvement of the Citroën Total WRT team, with the Finnish pair in charge of the test. They swapped their usual mount, the Citroën C3 WRC, for a Citroën Berlingo decorated in the style of the racing car, which, in addition to carrying the sponsors’ stickers, proudly displays a livery paying tribute to the 100 years of the brand chevrons, as the van itself also reproduces.

The location chosen for this demonstration and test of the vehicle’s extreme capabilities was the Langley Park Rally School track in Essex, England. Its gravel track, roughly 5 km long, included jumps as well as a section of cones that complicated the driver’s line.

Rallying with the new Citroën Berlingo

For this occasion, the Citroën Berlingo test unit had a specific preparation with a setup more typical of a rally car used on gravel than of a work van.

This Citroën Berlingo used in the test was fitted with a suspension that raised the ride height by 30 mm, the distance from the bodywork to the ground, along with traction control with hill-start assist and tyres for mud or snow driving, plus an underbody protection plate.

https://youtu.be/B1FSwbHBlsY

As we see in the video, without mercy or remorse, Esapekka Lappi pushed the selected unit of the new Citroën Berlingo to its limits, while his adventure companion Janne Ferm acted as co-driver, since, freed from his usual notebook, he held a portable radio in his hands to communicate with the technical staff.

The result

Through jumps and weight transfers, the Citroën Berlingo WRT never lost its composure, including jumps, in the purest style of the stages of the Rally Finland, and bends that left the vehicle sideways, which shows the good configuration and architecture of this van, chosen mostly for work tasks in stressful situations such as heavy city traffic.

Far from the city, but simulating even more critical situations, Esapekka Lappi and Janne Ferm finished the Citroën Berlingo test with a good taste in their mouths, or at least with a grin from ear to ear, as the recording of this curious demonstration shows of the tests some vehicles undergo to find out where their limits lie.