NO FULL SEASON FOR LOUBET JUST YET
Pierre-Louis Loubet needs to contest more rallies if he’s to repeat his Acropolis Rally heroics – but it appears there’s no prospect of a full schedule in 2023.
Loubet won two stages and led on the opening day in Greece in an M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1, eventually missing out on a podium to Dani Sordo after he lost ground with a puncture on the second morning.
Responding to a question from WRC.com about whether he’d be an ever-present next season, the 25-year-old Corsican said: “We will see, but not for the moment. It is a question you will have to ask to [M-Sport]. We have to drive more for sure if we want to push the top drivers.”
M-Sport boss Richard Millener said Loubet had “shown his potential for the future” but the team wouldn’t be getting “ahead of ourselves”.
Loubet secured enough funding for a sixevent programme with M-Sport this season and an expanded programme would most likely require more investment from the WRC2 champion’s backers. Next month’s Rally Spain will be his last of the year.