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Kenya: Legend Sebastien Loeb Back in WRC Safari Rally After Two Decades

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3 years ago

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Nairobi — World Rally Championship (WRC) legend Sebastien Loeb is bracing for a grand comeback to next month’s WRC Safari Rally for the first time in two decades.

The Frenchman has a sentimental attachment to the picturesque Great Rift Valley terrain where he finished fifth in the 2002 WRC Inmarsat Safari Rally navigated by Daniel Elena in a Citroën Xsara WRC.

The nine-time WRC champion made a comeback to top tier rallying during January’s WRC Monte Carlo Rally where he beat rival and compatriot Sebastien Ogier to score an 80th career win.

Loeb is tackling his first gravel rally of the 2022 season in an M-Sport Ford Puma in Portugal this weekend where he joined a strong field of 12 Rally1 hybrid entries.

In Kenya, the legendary driver will renew his rivalry with Safari’s defending champion and eight-time world champion Ogier who is in the Toyota Gazoo Racing line up for Safari.

Loeb is part of a six-car M-Sport World Rally Team line up for Safari alongside Briton Gus Greensmith, Frenchman Adrien Fourmaux, Craig Breen of Ireland, Martin Prokop (Czech Republic) and Belgian Jourdan Serderdis.

Loeb told www.autosport.com this week: “The first feeling in the Puma on gravel at our test was quite good, I was quite happy with the feeling I had as we worked on the suspension and the differential setups,” said Loeb, who is also set to participate in the WRC’s 50th season celebrations this weekend.

Loeb is the most successful driver in the World Rally Championship (WRC). He won the world championship a record 9 times in a row and holds several other WRC records, including most event wins, most podium finishes and most stage wins.