From wrc.com
Citroen Racing boss, Yves Matton will talk to Sebastien Loeb before Rally Finland to see if he wants to do more rallies for the troubled squad in the second half of the WRC season.
Tempting Loeb out of retirement is one option Matton is considering as he seeks to turn around a miserable start to 2013 for the French car manufacturer, during which Volkswagen has pulled ahead in the drivers’ and manufacturers’ championships.
Matton made the admission at Rally Italia Sardinia, shortly after his lead driver, Mikko Hirvonen crashed out from second place while trying to narrow a 40-second gap to Volkswagen’s Sebastien Ogier.
As he makes the transition from rallying to racing, nine-time World Rally Champion Loeb was scheduled to tackle only four WRC events for Citroen this year, with a final appearance on his home Rallye de France-Alsace in October.
“I haven’t spoken to him yet but for sure at the half of the season I will speak again with Sebastien to see if he has the motivation to do maybe one or two rallies more,” said Matton. In the following days or weeks then we will have an answer and we will see with Seb what we can do.”
Loeb has a busy racing programme this year, and he will tackle the Pikes Peak hillclimb in Colorado this weekend. After winning Rally Argentina in May, however, he didn’t rule out more WRC outings.
Matton said that in the meantime his team would be working hard to find improvements before the next WRC round in five weeks’ time.
Citroen Racing boss, Yves Matton will talk to Sebastien Loeb before Rally Finland to see if he wants to do more rallies for the troubled squad in the second half of the WRC season.
Tempting Loeb out of retirement is one option Matton is considering as he seeks to turn around a miserable start to 2013 for the French car manufacturer, during which Volkswagen has pulled ahead in the drivers’ and manufacturers’ championships.
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| Sébastien Loeb. (Photo: Citroën Racing) |
Matton made the admission at Rally Italia Sardinia, shortly after his lead driver, Mikko Hirvonen crashed out from second place while trying to narrow a 40-second gap to Volkswagen’s Sebastien Ogier.
As he makes the transition from rallying to racing, nine-time World Rally Champion Loeb was scheduled to tackle only four WRC events for Citroen this year, with a final appearance on his home Rallye de France-Alsace in October.
“I haven’t spoken to him yet but for sure at the half of the season I will speak again with Sebastien to see if he has the motivation to do maybe one or two rallies more,” said Matton. In the following days or weeks then we will have an answer and we will see with Seb what we can do.”
Loeb has a busy racing programme this year, and he will tackle the Pikes Peak hillclimb in Colorado this weekend. After winning Rally Argentina in May, however, he didn’t rule out more WRC outings.
Matton said that in the meantime his team would be working hard to find improvements before the next WRC round in five weeks’ time.
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| Photo: Peugeot Sport |