Nine-time FIA World Rally Champion Sébastian Loeb took his second podium with Hyundai Motorsport at Rally Turkey last weekend, by finishing in third, and was the first for him and co-driver Daniel Elena since Rally Chile 2019.
The Turkish WRC round was scheduled to be Loeb’s last WRC event this season, as Dani Sordo has been selected to be Hyundai’s third driver for the next rally in Sardinia and Craig Breen is scheduled to drive in Belgium in November.
Now it’s also possible that 46-year-old Loeb may have made his last appearance behind the wheel of a WRC car in the championship altogether.
“We haven’t talked anything [with the Hyundai Motorsport]. It does not depend on this result. Yes I enjoy driving and I had a lot of fun. I am proud that I was able to fight against these guys. However, that doesn’t change anything and as I said, I haven’t discussed the next rallies with the team.” Loeb said.
Loeb was leading Rally Turkey on the opening day on Friday afternoon, but lost a couple of places as the rally coninued the following day.
“After all, it’s great to be on a podium place, because we had our own ups and downs during the rally. It was also great to lead the rally after the opening day. Then at the beginning of the second day I made a bit of a bad tire choice and lost places. Also in the afternoon on Saturday I destroyed the tires again. Luckily, I was still able to get back to second place.” Loeb continued.
“On Sunday, I just had to start at full speed, but there was an incredible amount of dust in the air. The conditions were sometimes not drivable at all. I tried to drive without risks so that there would be no flat tire, but yes I caught one, I don’t know at all where it came from. In the end, we still fought ourselves for the podium.”
