The argument for…
Lovely fella, massive talent, big winner, but yesterday’s man.
Sebastien Loeb has had his time in the World Rally Championship. He’s a racing driver now. Loeb’s not going to come back to Citroen on a full-time WRC contract. He’s just not. He doesn’t want to be doing events which demand 10 days out of town and 10 nights away from the family. And he’s not going to dig in for another stack of testing to sort the 2017 World Rally Car out.
He’s been there. Done that.
What would it prove for him to come back and do it all again? Absolutely nothing. Because he has nothing to prove that he hasn’t proved 78 times already.
Granted, it might be nice to see him race Sebastien Ogier across the spread of a season. But, speaking honestly, the difference between the DS 3 WRC and Polo R WRC is such that it’s unlikely the nine-time champion would really be up for heading back out to bat on a wicket which has become considerably more sticky since he was last in the middle.
Being blunt, the Citroen’s no Volkswagen and those halcyon days of endless tests and big budgets have disappeared from the rally programme – that’s what happens when you divide the global motorsport budget by two.
For now, at least, it looks like Loeb’s had the best of Citroen. That could, of course, all change if and when the French firm puts all its eggs back in the WRC basket in 2017.
By then, Loeb will be 43 and even more settled into his hard-earned and well-deserved retirement.
The time has come to understand Loeb’s rallying days really are done; far better focus on the here and now. Far better build a team looking to the future rather than trying to recreate the past.
That does, however, raise the Kris Meeke question.
The Dungannon man’s not the next Loeb and would never claim to be. But ask any one of the mechanics in the Citroen team right now who they would want in the car and Meeke’s the man. He’s one of them. He’s fighting the fight against Volkswagen and regularly getting the DS 3 in among a trio of Polos impenetrable to most others (apart from the high-flying Hayden Paddon).
Meeke’s the only person employed outside of Germany to have won a rally this year and only Ogier and Jari-Matti Latvala have set more fastest stage times than him.
He’s not without fault though and two crashes in two rallies is, like Yves Matton says, not acceptable. But let’s not forget, Meeke’s only in his second full season in a World Rally Car and he’s being expected to lead a team, set the race pace, bring points home and push for victory. Yes, you’re right, that is professional sport, but blowing hot and cold on drivers isn’t the best for their confidence; after Argentina, Matton said Meeke had nothing to prove. Turns out he’s got everything to prove two rallies later.
Part of the problem is, Citroen’s not really used to bent metal. Let’s face it, Loeb was a bit of an exception in his wins to shunt ratio.
But he’s gone now.
Meeke’s the immediate future for Citroen.
Here’s a bit of a stat for you: as we mentioned, this is the second full season for Meeke and he won his first WRC round four events into the year. Ogier also won in his second full season, but it took him six starts to crack the champagne.
We might have been a bit statistically selective there, but you get the message.
Published by: Maxrally