The celebrated comeback sadly proved to be all-too short-lived, but in the three rounds he contested during the 2023 FIA World Rallycross Championship campaign, motorsport legend Sébastien Loeb ably reminded everybody what he is capable of in the discipline.
In Portugal, he thrilled fans with a dramatic last lap duel in the opening heat against Niclas Grönholm and then placed third overall in heat two, in a car that was still underdeveloped in comparison with its more established World RX rivals.
Ever the canny competitor, the Frenchman snuck through the semi-final carnage to progress to the final on his series return that weekend, before hustling Special ONE Racing’s Lancia Delta Evo-e RX to a superb third-fastest time in the SuperPole session in Norway. Indeed, Loeb was on average almost eight tenths-of-a-second quicker than team-mate Guerlain Chicherit – no slouch himself – in the single-lap shootouts, in evidence of just how much performance he was extracting from the car.
The Haguenau native similarly shone in SuperPole in Sweden and achieved four top five heat results in total, while advancing to the final two times out of three. It is to be hoped there may yet be a third chapter to Loeb’s World RX career, because he clearly still has plenty to give...
2023
Stats
World
RX Starts:
3
Wins:
0
Podiums:
0
Finals
Reached:
2
Best
Result: 5th
Points:
29
Finland
Italy
Hungary