Ten WRC rounds for Urmo Aava and Citroen C4

Estonian driver Urmo Aava is to compete on 10 rallies in the 2008 world rally championship at the wheel of a Citroen C4 World Rally Car.

At a presentation today in Tallinn, it was confirmed that Aava will start the programme on Rally Sweden, in a team supported by engineers from Citroen Sport Technologies.

The events which will not feature in his programme are Monte Carlo, Mexico, Argentina, Japan and New Zealand.

Citroen Sport Technologies chief Benoit Nogier said "CST will bring its full technical support to the team. This is the start of a new collaboration". It is expected that the Aava car will operate alongside the official cars. Together with Martin Rauam in the PCWRC and Jaan Molder in the JWRC, Aava will be entered by World Rally Team Estonia.

Aava, 28, made his international name as a competitor in the FIA Junior world rally championship at the wheel of Suzuki Ignis and Swift cars. He won two J-WRC events; Turkey in 2006 and then Sardinia in 2007. He finished second in the series in 2006 and 2007.

World Rally Car competition is not new to Urmo. He drove a Focus on his very first appearance in the world championship, in 2002, and he drove a Lancer WRC three times in 2007, finishing seventh overall in Finland and eighth on the model's final WRC appearance in New Zealand.