MAC3 line-up for Morocco already set ahead of the weekend

The driver line-up for the post-qualifying MAC3 time trial event between manufacturers is already know ahead of the weekend, with Citroën Racing having already confirmed Mehdi Bennani will be their third entry for the fourth consecutive meeting.

The three-car time trial format is open to Citroën, Honda and Lada as the only teams entered for the manufacturers’ championship which have at least three cars on the grid, but while Honda and Lada have three factory backed entries and have no plans to field anyone outside of their driver trios in MAC3 this year, Citroën has to select one of their privateer entries at each event as they only field two works drivers this year; José María López and Yvan Muller.

“We are choosing our third driver each time, one week before the event,” explained Citroën Racing team principal Yves Matton on the team’s driver selection methodology. “It’s only I would say known for the next event, I have taken the decision, because it will be Morocco and for sure it will be Mehdi again but after that everything is open.”

The drivers have to be officially nominated to the FIA before scrutineering on Friday, but can be changed in the case of force majeure should one of the team’s cars become damaged or unable to take part after qualifying, except in the case of Lada who have no privateer cars to turn to.

Citroën won the first MAC3 event in France at the opening round, while Honda were awarded the win in Hungary following a time penalty handed to Citroën, while both Honda and Citroën tied for the victory in Slovakia after setting the same time to the thousandth of a second over two laps.