Citroen: Mexico win shows slow start was "normal process"

Kris Meeke's Mexico win - Citroen's first this season - helped turn around a difficult start for the sport’s returning French giant.

But Matton has insisted it was simply a confirmation of what the outfit was already aware of.

"Fundamentally, we knew we had a good car," Matton said. "This result shows that.

"What happened at the start of this season is the normal process for the development of a new car and our targets for this year remain the same.

"We want rally wins and we want at least second in the manufacturers’ championship."

Meeke echoed Matton's sentiments, saying that troubled outings in Monte Carlo and Sweden were now behind the French marque - although the Northern Irishman admitted there was still work to be done.

"Coming into the season, testing had all gone well," Meeke told Motorsport.com. "Then we had a specific issue in Monte and in Sweden, but that’s behind us now.

"This bodes well for the future, it’s fantastic to know we have a car we can fight with. There’s still work to do.”

That work will principally centre on the C3 WRC’s suspension. Suspension manufacturer Ohlins worked with Citroen through its time in the World Touring Car Championship and will step up its involvement in the WRC in an effort to evolve what is now acknowledged as a carried-over weakness from the DS3 WRC.

Meanwhile, Meeke suggested that the Mexico win was particularly encouraging, as he believes it is not one of his stronger events.

“What we’ve done in Mexico is great," he said. "But what’s really good is that we’ve done it on what is probably quite a weak event for me. I didn’t think I had the experience on this rally to really challenge [for the win]. It’s a tight, twisty rally on really slippery gravel – that’s not always my strong point.

“But we haven’t just won here, we’ve pretty much dominated. Now we need to kick on again. We’ve got Corsica next and that’s a chance for us to get back on track on Tarmac, and then we have gravel rallies in Argentina and Portugal where we’ve not a bad record."