Peugeot and Citroën are to withdraw from the world championship at the end of 2005, the PSA group, which owns them, announced yesterday, only two days after Ford reaffirmed its commitment to the competition.
The French teams have been the dominant force in rallying for the past five years and the decision will leave many leading drivers out of work, including the new world champion Sébastien Loeb, the double champion Marcus Gronholm and the winner of the last two rallies Markko Martin.
PSA cited "tougher conditions in the car market" and emphasised its determination to remain in cheaper forms of motorsport. "Citroën and Peugeot have won everything since 2000. The investment return has been outstanding," the Peugeot sport director Corrado Provera said.
"The car industry has been undergoing a very tough time. We could have withdrawn at the end of 2004. It is a very elegant solution."
PSA has never been comfortable with both its brands competing in this arena and the conduct of the international automobile federation (FIA). The group was livid at a proposal - announced and scrapped in October - to impose a new, non-turbocharged formula, potentially wasting millions of pounds of development.
Almost every team has contemplated withdrawal in the past 18 months. As in formula one, the latest upheaval poses fundamental questions about the value for money motorsport offers to an industry in straitened circumstances.
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