Pierre Budar has replaced Yves Matton as head of Citroën Racing.

Budar, a longtime employee of the French squad’s parent PSA Group, has been named Director of Citroën Racing following Matton’s decision to join the FIA as rally director.

He takes up the reins with immediate effect and will be in charge of the Citroën Total Abu Dhabi squad at next week’s opening round of the FIA World Rally Championship, Rallye Monte-Carlo (25 - 28 January).

“Groupe PSA has given me a unique opportunity to reconcile my passion for motorsport with an engineering career. I never imagined one day running one of the most prestigious competition teams in the world,” said 53-year-old Budar.

“I measure the challenge that is proposed to me at the head of an extraordinary team and I will strive to obtain the best of its talents.”

Budar joined PSA in 1989 as an engineer and drove for the Peugeot Talbot Sport team in 1991 in a Group N 309 car.

He worked in France and Asia before setting up the group’s road performance car development department in 2010.

He took on responsibility for the group’s customer competition activities in 2016 and was influential in the development of Citroën’s C3 R5 rally car.

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