Citroen DS3 XL: 407kW hot-hatch heads to X Games

The Citroen Racing and Red Bull driver will take on the best steerers from the Global Rallycross Championship (GRC) including Marcus Gronholm, Ken Block and Travis Pastrana on the last day of the X Games, just days after wrapping up this week's WRC New Zealand Rally.

The Citroen DS3 XL, standing for X Games and Loeb, was developed by Citroen Racing and built by Citroen Racing's WRC car crew at Hansen Motorsport.

While the design of the chassis and suspension systems are fairly similar to the WRC car, the powertrain is fundamentally different. While a WRC car must run an air- and boost-restricted turbocharged 1.6-litre four-cylinder, the DS3 XL sports a 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbocharged engine with no restrictions meaning it's proper fast. "Its acceleration isn't far off that of an F1 car, covering 0-100 km/h in 2.4 seconds," said lead engineer for the project at Citroen Racing Cyrille Jourdan.

The biggest visual difference between the WRC car (pictured below) and the XL is the addition of cooling vents in the rear wings to guide air to the water radiator located in the boot, which has been moved to aid balance as the engineers reworked the weight distribution as there is no co-driver or spare wheel to worry about.

Despite the event being the third round of the GRC - a series that Citroen is not currently competing in - Citroen Racing Director Yves Matton is no less serious, saying, "As it's a one-off event for us, we don't have to worry about managing our position in the championship. There's only one race and we are really determined to try and win it. It won’t be easy because it will all be new to us … but we'll be fighting every inch of the way.”

The Rallycross X Games event will take place at a purpose built circuit at the Gilbert Lindsay Plaza, next to the Staples Center, and features dirt sections as well as a jump of over 20 metres.

Click on the Gallery for more photos.