Loeb: First WRC win, then Dakar start 🎥

Six years ago, Sébastien Loeb contested his last full season as a factory driver in the World Rally Championship. In 2013, he only competed in four WRC rallies with Citroën, two of which (Monte Carlo and Argentina) he won for himself and his team.

Nine WRC titles and 78 WRC victories seemed to be a record for the ages. Loeb then turned his attention to the WTCC and the World Rallycross Championship. Here, too, he won races. In 2015, Loeb once again completed a WRC event with Citroën at the Monte (8th).

Driving skills and tire choice
This season, the Swiss by choice returned to the WRC tracks as Citroën's third factory driver with the new C3 WRC in Mexico (5th) and Corsica (14th). Last weekend's Rally Spain was his third and, for the time being, last outing - and it ended with victory for Loeb and regular co-driver Daniel Elena.

In changeable weather conditions, Loeb was in third position after Saturday's second stage, 8 seconds behind the leading Toyota driver Jari-Matti Latvala and 4.7 behind world champion Sébastien Ogier on Ford Fiesta.

The decision on Sunday was made by Loeb's unchanged speed and his feeling for the external conditions and their consequences. The veteran opted for a hard Michelin tire compound for the track, which was drying after rain - everyone else went softer.

Loeb promptly won the first two special stages of the day, took the lead and then stayed in front despite a stoppage in the final SS.

Showdown for the world championship title
Latvala, meanwhile, missed his chance of victory after contact with a guard rail and a subsequent puncture. Because the previous WRC leader Thierry Neuville also suffered a broken rear wheel on his Hyundai i20 after contact with a boulder, Ogier's Ford team-mate Elfyn Evans was able to push the Belgian into fourth place by half a second.

Ogier has thus taken over the lead in the standings from Neuville before the final round in Australia in mid-November. The score is now 204:201 - one of them will be world champion.

Unexpected
But the sensation was Sébastien Loeb's 79th world championship triumph.

Sébastien Loeb: "I never expected to win again. Here, I only found out after crossing the finish line. I know what I can do, but the others have so much more practice with these new and more powerful World Rally Cars. It's incredible."

Whether Loeb will ever contest another world championship race is an open question. Citroën will hardly need reinforcements in the future, as Sébastien Ogier will be returning to the French in 2019 and they have taken on one of the greatest talents as their new second man in the form of Esapekka Lappi, a Finn who previously competed for Toyota.

Fourth Dakar start in private Peugeot buggy
Loeb has other big plans. Next January, the 44-year-old Frenchman will take part in the 41st Dakar Rally 2019 with Elena as navigator. With a private Peugeot 3008DKR, like the one Loeb drove to second place in January 2017, five minutes behind Stéphane Peterhansel. The car will be entered by PH Sport.

So far, Loeb has taken part in the toughest desert rally in South America three times as a Peugeot works driver. This year, he retired while leading the race. So he now has a score to settle.

Whether he can settle it with a private team? After his WRC victory in Spain, that's not impossible either.

Sébastien Loeb: "I always drive to win, but I also want to have fun. As a privateer driver, it's a big challenge. But I'm ready to take it on."

Competition from Mini and Toyota
His biggest competition will come from two camps. X-Raid Mini is just as strong with Peterhansel, Carlos Sainz and Cyril Desprès as Toyota South Africa with Nasser Al-Attiyah and Giniel de Villiers.

All of them have won the Dakar Rally - Desprès on a motorcycle - at least once. Only Sébastien Loeb has never.

wrc.com
dakar.com