Malcolm Wilson has a firm goal of convincing Sébastien Loeb to compete in the WRC full-time in 2023. He knows it’s a complex undertaking, but the M-Sport boss is an expert in these situations.
Sébastien Loeb needs no introduction.. The Frenchman is the king of the WRC, as evidenced by his nine World Championship titles. He is also one of the strongest and most solid pilots of the current off-road scene. Spearhead of the Prodrive project in the Dakar, he is also one of the names of Extreme E. Despite being 48 years old, it is clear that Loeb is in top form.
When it comes to the WRC, Loeb competes part-time with M-Sport, with a program limited to four rallies. A ‘reduced’ project, but which has given great returns to the British team. In his first participation with the Ford Puma Rally1, Seb achieved his 80th WRC winwith a tremendous performance in
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the Montecarlo Rally which makes him the first winner of a rally in the hybrid era of the World Championship.
“Surely he will not want to do the full championship, something that we at M-Sport want”
Although things were not so positive for Loeb in Portugal and Kenya, in M-Sport it is very clear that they cannot let the Alsatian escape. In fact, Malcolm Wilson as ‘alma mater’ of the coach from Cumbria has slipped Sébastien Loeb the option of compete full-time in the 2023 WRC. It does not seem like an easy undertaking, but Wilson has managed to shape much more complex projects.
“It’s no secret that I would like to try to get him to do more events. Surely he will not want to do the full championship, something that we at M-Sport want, but if we can get it to be in more events it will be a success. I don’t think we’ll make it because he has other work commitments and to be honest, I don’t think he wants to do the full season.” Malcolm Wilsonshowing his desire and certain resignation.
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extensive commitment
Although Sébastien Loeb has shown that he keeps his passion for racing intact at the age of 48, the truth is that competing in a full WRC season with fourteen rallies seems like too extensive a commitment. Not so much because of the number of appointments on the calendar, but because of the prior preparation that each event requires, which in the end adds up many days away from home.
If the Alsatian maintains part or all of his current agenda, there are committed dates from the outset. Without going further, Loeb’s presence at the Dakar would prevent him from doing the previous tests of the Monte Carlo Rallyas the recce starts a couple of days after the end of the 45th edition of the toughest rally-raid in the world.
Your current schedule
In this regard, it should be remembered that Sébastien Loeb has a large number of open fronts. The French rider is the benchmark for the Bahrain Raid X-Treme project, a Prodrive structure that compete with the BRX Hunter T1+ in the Dakar and in the World Rally-Raid Championship. In addition, he is also linked to the Prodrive project under the identity of the X-44 Team. in Extreme E.
As if that weren’t enough, along with his partial program in the WRC, Loeb has also acted as reserve driver for the Red Bull AlphaTauri team in the DTM, competing with a Ferrari 488 GT3 in the opening round of the championship in Portimao. However, this program on circuits in the hands of Red Bull and AF Corse it seems that it will not be repeated in 2023.
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Photos: Red Bull Content Pool