Simon Jean-Joseph, Jack Boyère and their Citroën C2 Super 1600 took second place on this weekend's Rallye d’Antibes, a performance that maintains the Citroën driver's chances of claiming a second European Rally Championship title when the decision regarding an appeal involving the result of his chief rival on the recent Elpa Rally in Greece is published.

Although the name of this year's ERC championship will consequently only be known in a few weeks' time, the outcome of the Rallye d’Antibes turned out to be a fittingly successful conclusion to the masterfully-fought 2007 campaign of Simon, Jack and PH Sport who prepared and ran their C2 S1600 with support from Citroën Sport technicians.

"Our objective at the beginning of the year was to profit from our consistency to pick up as many points as possible on the first three events," relates the clearly satisfied Customer Competition Manager of Citroën Sport, Yves Matton. "Given our encouraging early results, this initial programme was then extended thanks to support from Total and BFGoodrich, in addition to Simon's own partners.

Our aim also was to showcase the reliability and potential of the C2 Super 1600 and I think we have succeeded in achieving that, even though we will have to wait a little longer to find out who is officially champion. If we end up winning the title, too, that will be the icing on the cake! Whichever way it goes, I am so proud of everyone who has been involved in this campaign. They all gave more than 100%."

Simon Jean-Joseph, whose experience, speed and reliability were a major contribution to this superb overall result, can look back at a job well done. "It's been a very rewarding season," says the Citroën Sport driver. "In addition to the human adventure aspect, our 2007 programme evolved in the course of the year, as did our objectives! It wasn’t easy to keep our challenge for the title going all the way to the end of the season with our Citroën C2 Super 1600 against some tough opposition in four-wheel drive cars. It's just a shame we will now have to wait to know who takes the title…"

The decision is expected within the coming weeks, most probably before mid-November. Before the start, Simon Jean-Joseph had likened the final showdown of the series in the south of France to an autumnal Monte Carlo Rally. How right that description proved, since snow and ice on the Col de Turini led the organisers to cancel the first attempt at this classic test. In the end, the day did little to change the picture at the sharp end of the overall leaderboard, although Simon Jean-Joseph and Jack Boyère marked the morning with another fastest time overall on Lantosque-Coaraze (SS15), in addition to that scored on the celebrated Col de Bleine stage on Friday evening.

Their exploit was acclaimed by the connoisseur spectators as a veritable exploit and many of them, judging by its speed, believed the Citroën C2 Super 1600 was in fact a Super 2000, proof that the 'diminutive' two-wheel drive car, too, had accomplished its mission, that of making a real mark on the public…