The UAE’s Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi hopes the return of Sébastien Loeb to World Rally Championship action in Argentina tomorrow can help put the Citroën Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team back on track for a title success this season.
Loeb, the most successful driver in WRC history after a record nine successive championship triumphs, is now concentrating on circuit racing and makes only his third of four scheduled WRC appearances this season in Rally Argentina, which he has won seven years in a row.
Since his victory in Monte Carlo, which was followed by a second place in Sweden, the WRC has been dominated by Volkswagen who snatched the lead in the manufacturers’ championship thanks to Sebastien Ogier’s third consecutive win in Portugal earlier this month.
“It’s going to be tough to get the lead back, but Sébastien has a fantastic record in Argentina and if he can do the job again this time it could help the team turn things around,” said Al Qassimi.
“Even though he is no longer in rallying full time, he has the knowledge and experience to win this event again, and that will be his only target.”
Having secured his first WRC points of the season with a battling drive into ninth place in Portugal, Al Qassimi will make his third of nine appearances in the championship this season in the Acropolis Rally in Greece from 31May to 2 June.
With Loeb and Daniel Elena teaming up with Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen in Argentina, Spain’s Dani Sordo and Carlos del Barrio take over from Al Qassimi and Scott Martin in the Abu Dhabi Citroën Total WRT, the second WRC team created by the partnership between Abu Dhabi Racing and Citroën Racing.
After today’s (Wednesday) qualifying and super special stages, Rally Argentina, the fifth round of the 2013 WRC, begins in earnest tomorrow, with four special stages to be negotiated as Loeb and Hirvonen look to repeat their 1-2 domination of the rally last year.
Hungry for success in Argentina, Hirvonen says: “Since Portugal, we have continued to work in testing and have made some more positive steps forward in the set-up of the DS3 WRC. After finishing as runner-up in the last two rallies, I’m certainly aiming to be even faster here and to win my first race of the season.”
Sordo, who was fighting for victory in Portugal before crashing out, is also aiming for the top in his Abu Dhabi Citroën DS3 WRC. “I love Argentina,” said the 2009 runner-up. “It’s a rally where I feel pretty much at home. In Portugal, I felt revitalised in the DS3 WRC. I could do what I wanted with the car and I think I could’ve challenged for the win. I’m not going to get too carried away, however, because the conditions in Argentina will be very different. But I’m certainly on the right track.”
The Abu Dhabi Citroën Racing crews are all well acclimatised in Argentina after a two-day recce which was preceded on Sunday by an exclusive show watched by 50,000 fans in the city of Córdoba. This included a drive along the dried out La Cañada canal that runs through the heart of the city, before Loeb was granted the freedom of the city by the mayor.