Official: Citroen give Duval reprieve.

Citroen have confirmed that Francois Duval will return to the team for the Rally Argentina next month - and the remainder of the season, following his two-event 'break'.

The decision to give the Belgian a second chance comes after 'serious discussions' between team boss, Guy Frequelin and Duval.

Duval has now secured the services of Freddy Loix's former partner, Sven Smeets, following Stephane Prevot's decision to end his collaboration with the former Ford driver after their crash and subsequent bust-up in Cyprus.

"The unsuspected misunderstanding between Francois and Stephane since the start of the year, and which reached its climax in Cyprus, certainly had a bad influence on their respective capacities," explained Frequelin.

"In addition to their poor results since the start of the season, came the announcement of Stephane to stop co-driving with Francois. In that case, I had no other choice than to suspend Francois' entries for Turkey and Greece to give ourselves time to analyse the situation and find the best solution for the next events.

"It's important though to put Francois back behind the wheel as I believe he is young driver with good potential.

"His comeback should be a chance for him to rise successfully to the challenges he has been given, namely to bring his car to the finish and score manufacturers points. It's the target that I have set him and that he has accepted. I am confident he will achieve it."

Carlos Sainz meanwhile will still pilot the second car in Greece, as previously announced, before once again retiring from the WRC.