Automotive: Sébastien Loeb announces his return to the World Rallycross Championship

Europe 1 with AFP 18:09 p.m., April 17, 2023

Nine-time WRC World Rally Champion Sébastien Loeb has joined the World Rallycross Championship (World RX) this season, the Special One Racing team announced on Monday, five years after the Frenchman's last participation in the championship. At the wheel of a Lancia Delta converted into electric power, Loeb will be associated with the founder of the team, his compatriot Guerlain Chicherit, four-time freeride ski world champion turned driver.

"I'm from the generation that has been rocked by the Lancia Delta's rally victories, so obviously I have a soft spot for this car. But when Guerlain first told me about entering one in rallycross... I thought he was crazy!" recalls Loeb. "And then I tried the car in December 2022 and I was immediately won over by its dynamic qualities," he said in a statement.

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Engaged in rally-raid

The Alsatian had already participated in the championship between 2016 and 2018 in a Peugeot 208 WRX at the wheel of which he won twice in 36 participations. This year, in addition to rallycross, Loeb is also involved in cross-country rallying, where he currently occupies the first provisional place in the world championship. The announcement of his return to rallycross, whose season begins on the weekend of June 3 in Portugal, could thus end the possibility of seeing the Frenchman again in the WRC this year, as was the case in 2022 as part of a partial program with Ford. So far, no announcement has been made to this effect.

Unlike the WRC, where drivers start one after the other on roads closed to traffic and have to cover a certain number of timed kilometers as quickly as possible, rallycross directly opposes several rally cars on a closed circuit with mixed surface (dirt and asphalt).