Nine-time World Rally champion Sébastien Loeb is thought likely to return to an M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 at September’s Acropolis Rally in Greece.
Beyond admitting he would like to drive a fourth WRC round with M-Sport, Loeb has yet to commit to when he’ll next be in the car. M-Sport’s response is the same.
Loeb’s FIA World Rally-Raid Championship commitments with Prodrive dictate his season and a test aboard the team’s Hunter is thought to preclude Rally New Zealand, while a date shift for the Andalucía Rally makes Rally Spain impossible.
Having previously stated he’s not keen on competing in Estonia, Finland or Ypres, that leaves Greece’s WRC round as the obvious next outing.
Sources close to Loeb have confirmed an Acropolis outing would make sense. The source said: “Greece would make sense [for Loeb]. He’s won it three times and it’s an event the [M-Sport] team can make work easier than, for example, flying a car out to Japan for the final event of the season.”
Loeb made himself immediately at home with M-Sport, winning the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally. He then crashed out of the lead in Portugal and retired from the fight at the front in Safari with an engine fault.
“I was a bit frustrated with the overall classification in Safari,” Loeb told DirtFish, “I think our speed was good and we were able to fight at the front. We did some good stage times, though, and that’s not so bad.”
Loeb has started the Acropolis Rally 11 times and looked to have signed off on the Greek chapter of his WRC career with a win in 2012 for Citroën.
