Nine-time World Rally Champion Sébastien Loeb reckons he has the potential to take the victory fight to Toyota and Mini X-raid with his new team Bahrain Raid Xtreme on the Dakar Rally.
Twice a podium finisher on the Dakar, first with Peugeot’s factory team in 2017 and then with a privately entered 3008 DKR with PH Sport in 2019, Loeb will contest the rally raid classic for a fifth time on what is the first outing for the new Prodrive-run team.
Loeb, who will partner 2014 Dakar winner Nani Roma, said he was optimistic of putting in a strong performance on the Saudi Arabian event.
“It’s a new car and when you start a rally like that with a new car, it’s always complicated because you always have some surprises,” said Loeb.
“I think if you watched two years ago when I was driving my last Dakar with the private team, I was really competitive.
“I was ahead in the stages a lot of time, but we had some mechanical troubles of some different problems that made that we lost a lot of time, but I know I have the potential to fight for the win.
“You need to bring everything together and that’s not easy, but hopefully we will be able to do it.”
Loeb’s latest Dakar adventure comes as part of a wider transition to off-road racing, as the former Citroën WRC driver will contest the inaugural season of Extreme E this year with X44, the team of seven-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton.
Since his first Dakar appearance, Loeb has been one of the fastest drivers, and caused a sensation on his debut in 2016 by leading the rally in the early stages.
The following year, Loeb won five stages – the most of any in the car category – and finished second, just five minutes behind team-mate Stéphane Peterhansel.
A maiden Dakar win has so far been elusive, but Loeb was bullish about his new car, and said victory on the event would rank “very high” on his list of achievements.
“For sure, it will rank high because winning a Dakar is a lot of work,” said Loeb.
“It’s not like a race from one hour, it’s a race from two weeks and that’s just amazing. You need to put in a lot of effort.
“And if you achieve it, for me it’s one of the most important races in the world so for sure it will be on a very high rank.
“Every time that I come back from Dakar, I have some great memories in my mind. And I think we were not far from being able to win it the last time I did.
“So, the motivation was back, and we have a new project now with a new car and that makes it even more exciting.”
This year’s Dakar is the second to be held in Saudi Arabia. It is scheduled to begin on January 3 and will cover over 3000 miles across 12 competitive stages.
