LAST SHOT AT DAKAR FOR FRENCH MAN
Sebastien Loeb’s hopes of a Dakar victory now ride on what’s looking likely to be his final shot at the South American marathon next season.
Loeb started his first Dakar last year and, like this season, led the event before hitting trouble; a crash and mechanical problems cost him the win on his debut, while stopping for 26 minutes on the fourth stage earlier this season ended his hopes of a 2017 victory.
Loeb and co-driver Daniel Elena flew directly from their WRC test in Spain to Morocco for two days of running in Peugeot’s 3008 DKR ahead of the Rally of Morocco early next month.
“It will be important [to win Dakar next season] because I think it’s the last one, maybe Peugeot will continue [after Dakar], but I don’t think so,” Loeb told MN. “We start to have a bit more experience now and it would be great to be able to win. But it’s so difficult to know what to expect in a rally like this one when it’s so long. OK we know we have the speed, but in Dakar it’s not only the speed, you can lose a lot in the navigation or with problems – like we’ve had.
“We will prepare as well as possible, we start with more experience for me on the driving and Daniel on the co-driving and the car starts to be strong, it won already last year. We have everything to be able to win now, but it’s not easy to do it.”
Experience of off-road running remains Loeb’s only concern for next year’s Dakar, which starts in Lima, Peru on January 6 and finishes in Cordoba, Argentina a fortnight later.
He continued: “I know in the driving rhythm I am quite good and usually faster than my team-mates, then we lose a little time in the navigation. Daniel did a good job last year but [Stephane] Peterhansel’s co-driver [Jean-paul Cottret] has a lot more experience and he did nearly no mistakes last year.
“I hope we will have enough experience to do it. What happens in this rally is that every time you make a mistake on this event you realise you don’t have this experience before, but now you have it! Some drivers have been doing this for 10 years, of course we still have things to learn. Last year it was possible to win, so I think it will be next year as well.”
Peugeot returned to Dakar in 2015 and has won the last two events with Peterhansel.