Citroen has denied it has signed Kimi Raikkonen to contest selected events of next year's World Rally Championship - but has admitted it is in talks with the Finn.
Rumours suggested the Finnish former F1 world champion would contest up to eight WRC events next season, as he takes a sabbatical from Formula One.
Raikkonen, who left Ferrari at the end of this season, has been linked to a drive a Red Bull-backed Citroen C4, but this has been denied.
Citroen's WRC manager Olivier Quesnel told the French newspaper L'Equipe: "Nothing is signed, I never had [Kimi] Raikkonen on the telephone.
"In any case, [if Raikkonen did sign for Citroen] it would not be in the official team, but in the Citroen Junior Team. There is a lot of noise about this. But it is more than a rumour; it is a real possibility."
Quesnel said he would welcome Raikkonen at Citroen if a deal was struck.
"He was not a world champion by chance," he said. "In Finland last year, he was quite astonishing at the wheel of a Super 2000 car. If he comes to WRC, it will be very good news."
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Re: Citroen denies Raikkonen deal
No question that he's world championship material,but he's sometimes loath to show it, i mean, well take this year as an example,he showed now apparent effort too qualify, it was as if he was in the huff with the team because he thought he had a crap car, then the second have of the season the car was great for him, all smiles then.Personally, i'm glad he's out of F1 for a while, he's not exactly motavational material, is he?