Frenchman Sebastien Loeb lines up for this weekend’s Rally of France attempting to clinch the final points needed to secure a record-extending ninth world rally championship in front of his adoring home fans.
The 38-year-old driver who hails from the Alsace region, where the race is being held, can only be overhauled by Citroen team-mate Mikko Hirvonen although the Finnish pilot needs a combination of fortunate results to have any chance of taking the title race down to the penultimate rally in Italy on October 18.
Hirvonen stands 61 points behind the defending champion and must win on Sunday or hope that if he doesn’t win Loeb finishes worse than one place behind him in order to keep the title race alive with just Italy and Spain to follow.
“I am not thinking about the title,” conceded Hirvonen.
“The lead that Seb has is so much that it is almost impossible to beat him.”
However Loeb, who is set to trim his schedule down to just four rallies next season as he moves towards the World Touring Car Championship, abandoned on the asphalt roads during last year’s race, when Frenchman Sebastien Ogier triumphed in another Citroen.
Loeb hasn’t forgotten last year’s disappointment and would dearly love to uncork the champagne and put the finishing touches on what might be his ninth and final world crown.
“I have some revenge to take,” he warned.
“But the continuing changes to the relaying of the asphalt makes it difficult to read and it is one of the fastest tracks of the season,” added the man who is chasing a staggering 75th success in what will be his 162nd rally.
Jari-Matti Latvala is coming off a fine victory in the Rally of Great Britain where he drove his Ford Fiesta to a 27.8sec winning margin over Loeb and the Finnish driver will be looking to close his season with more success and keep Ford alive in the constructors standings where Citroen lead by a comfortable 111 points.
The rally on the roads around Strasbourg on the central eastern boundary of France began yesterday and features a mixture of narrow and fast sections which the drivers will thrive on, and a first day finish line near the European Parliament headquarters.
Sunday’s specials will take in Loeb’s former hometown of Haguenau where he hopes to clinch the title and look ahead to a career change after building a reputation as the greatest rally driver of all time.