The earlier Citroën Saxo S1600 JWRC car was highly successful.

The car won the JWRC title with Sébastien Loeb in 2001, and brought him to the attention of Citroën Total World Rally Team, and again with Daniel Solà in 2002.

With the new C2 replacing the aging Saxo, Citroën concentrated upon making their new car a winner.

Using a heavily modified C2 to create the Citroën C2 S1600, the works team and Dani Sordo succeeded in winning the championship in 2005.

In the season of 2008, Sébastien Ogier brought the Citroën C2 its second junior title, and in 2009, the C2 was again the title-winning car, with Martin Prokop taking the championship.