When you publish preview articles for motor shows, you can pretty much guarantee that an carmaker's PR department will unintentionally undo all of your hard work by announcing a car shortly after the original piece went live. Though it's not a huge issue in the grand scheme of things, it is nevertheless rather irritating - especially when the car in question could be the highlight of the manufacturer's Paris Motor Show portfolio. As is the case with Citroen's C3 WRC Concept.

The concept certainly appears to be a rather fine complement to the standard Citroen C3 that we already know will be making its world premiere at this year's Paris Motor Show, which also means we might just be able to see how intertwined the two C3 projects are. Perhaps more importantly, it's also our clearest indication yet at what former WRC dominators Citroen plans to do in order to reclaim its rallying crown. Remember, Citroen pulled its factory team out of the WRC this year so it could work even harder on this new C3 racer, so the end results should be pretty spectacular.

Whether the finished car can indeed take the fight to the ever-dominant Volkswagen squad, you can guarantee the C3 WRC will be one helluva sight on the world's rally stages. Any rally car with 380-hp will be a quick machine, but it's an even more likely championship contender when you remember Citroen Racing will almost certainly retain Kris Meeke and Stephane Lefebvre (two seriously quick rally drivers who can certainly challenge for outright victory if they've a good enough car at their disposal). Of course, the other four major teams will also be vying hard for championship triumphs, but we're fairly confident in Citroen's chances in next years World Rally Championship. Please don't disappoint us, Citroen.