For more than 10 years, Sébastien Loeb was the man when it came to rallying. Quite simply nobody could beat him. He won nearly half the rallies he contested, and the French media even called him the ‘extra terrestrial’ – on account of his other worldly abilities.
On the Dakar Rally though, the Peugeot driver is very much the new kid on the block in the playground of Nasser Al-Attiyah, formerly his team-mate at Citroen in the World Rally Championship. Back when they were competing together on the WRC in 2012, the boot was firmly on the other foot. Loeb won nine rallies en route to the champion’s title (including a mid-year sequence of five rally wins on the trot) while Al-Attiyah’s best result was fourth in Portugal, before he eventually finished 12th in the championship.
When it comes to Dakar, Al-Attiyah has two victories and many more stage wins. Whereas Loeb has precisely zero. The Frenchman’s co-driver Daniel Elena (despite sharing Loeb’s nine WRC titles) has even less experience, having learned everything he knows about the complex art of Cross Country navigation on a crash course – quite literally – over the last few weeks.
“I’m a bit worried about getting lost in the desert with Daniel,” points out Loeb. “He wasn’t the logical choice to co-drive: it would have been more logical to do it with someone who has plenty of experience. But we have been through a lot together, so this is special for both of us.”
Elena’s first Cross Country outing with Loeb on the Rallye du Maroc in October ended up with the pair of them on their roof, before they finally reached the finish well down the order. Al-Attiyah, however, won the rally by more than 15 minutes.
“Cross Country rallying is very specific; it’s not like the WRC,” says the Qatari. “Sébastien has a lot to learn but I’m sure he’ll figure it out pretty quickly.”
Loeb is not the only driver from the WRC who is making his first steps in Cross Country rallying. Finland’s Mikko Hirvonen is also framing up to his Dakar debut, in a MINI similar to that of Nasser Al-Attiyah. Alongside Hirvonen is the experienced Michel Perin, so the Finn will be another man hoping to turn the tables on Loeb – who beat him consistently throughout the time they were competing on the WRC together.
The closest that Hirvonen came to turning the tide was in 2009, when a strong run of WRC results meant that he lost the title to Loeb by just one point. Now he’s hoping for revenge in South America.
“Six months ago, I didn’t know much about the Dakar at all,” says Hirvonen. “I knew it was more about navigation than driving flat-out, but now I have some good testing behind me so I can’t wait to get started and do the best that I can.”
The latest WRC regular to join the Dakar runners is Martin Prokop, who finished the 2015 WRC as the top privateer driver in 11th overall, without the benefit of a factory team behind him. The Czech driver is heading to the Dakar for the very first time, driving a Toyota Hilux, but his proven consistency should help him reach the finish.
However, perhaps the strongest former WRC competitor on the event will be Carlos Sainz: driving for Peugeot. The two-time World Rally Champion, known as ‘El Matador’, ruled the sport for years, until Loeb came along. But a victory on the Dakar in 2010 proved that the superstar Spaniard had lost none of his speed and cunning.
Sainz has also spearheaded the development of the latest Peugeot 2008 DKR16 from scratch. Now might just be the right time to renew those former rivalries and settle some old scores.