Sébastien Ogier says he would look forward to seeing his former adversary Sébastien Loeb return to the World Rally Championship with M-Sport Ford.
Loeb tested the team’s new-for-2022 Ford Puma Hybrid Rally1 in Spain last month, and M-Sport’s plan to run four cars at the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally next January has increased speculation that Loeb will drive a Ford in a rally for the first time since 1999.
His last WRC spell was a part-time program with Hyundai through 2019 and 2020, which included two Monte Carlo appearances and an expected send-off to the championship with third place on last year’s Rally Turkey.
Ogier said he has ‘followed immensely’ the press reports of Loeb’s potential M-Sport tie-up, having won two WRC titles himself with the team.
“I think he doesn’t need any advice working with Malcolm [Wilson, M-Sport team owner] because it’s something which comes naturally and I’m sure he will enjoy it as much as I did and I think they have also been close to working together during his career and it didn’t happen,” Ogier said to DirtFish.
“So I think somehow they would be happy to make that happen. And racing against him has been, I cannot say a big part of my career because at the end it was only at the beginning of my career and then sometimes for some races.
“But in the statistics, he is always the reference and of course there was always a lot of talk and comparison made between us. Often we had some good fights and good battles together. So I’m sure if that happened again, there will probably be some situation where we’re fighting close together.”
The last WRC podium they shared together was 2019 Rally Chile, and if Loeb appears on the entry list for Monte Carlo as speculated then it will be an opportunity for him to match Ogier’s record tally of eight wins on the event.
“It’s good for the sport, good for the entertainment generally I would say when you have more competitive drivers and more champions fighting together,” added Ogier.
“So I think if it happened again I will look forward to it, and let’s see. Maybe already in Monte that can happen.”
