Problem for Loeb: The nine-time WRC champion is likely to miss the Monte-Carlo Rally. Who will be the third Ford driver?

Sébastien Loeb is very likely to miss the Monte-Carlo Rally and will not be able to defend his championship from the previous season. The Ford team has already confirmed the name of the third driver, who will be Greek Jourdan Serderidis. Loeb’s priority is the Dakar Rally, which will also take place in January.

The nine-time champion and WRC legend will probably not take part in the opening round of the new season. The official entry deadline for the Monte-Carlo Rally was last Friday, December 16.

Organisers subsequently confirmed that a maximum of 75 cars could enter the first event of the 2023 season, with ten Rally1 class cars on the entry list. And that includes three cars from the M-Sport Ford Puma WRT team.

The team’s clear leader for the upcoming season will be 2019 World Champion Ott Tanäk, who has transferred to Ford from Hyundai. Frenchman Pierre-Louis Loubet will also now be a full-time Ford driver.

The third seat will then go to privateer driver Serderidis for the Monte-Carlo Rally. However, the Greek driver will also compete in Mexico, Sardinia and Kenya in the colours of Ford in addition to the opening round of the new season.

Gus Greensmith, who is parting ways with Ford, and the legendary Frenchman Loeb, who will most likely miss out on the chance to defend his victory from last season, will not be able to take part in the Monte-Carlo Rally. The Monte-Carlo event is scheduled for January 19-22.

However, the forty-eight-year-old has his priorities elsewhere, namely the Dakar Rally. This is also scheduled for January and ends on Sunday 15 January. Two days later, the first “list” rides start in Monte-Carlo.

Statement from the team boss

“Of course we would love to have Seb in the car, but I think it will be difficult to arrange for Monte Carlo, but we will not stop trying,” said M-Sport boss Richard Millener in an interview with Motorsport.

“At the moment we have to put all our resources into Otto and be realistic. It will be a matter of funding. To have two top-level drivers who have a reasonable but still big price tag,” Millener added when asked about negotiations with Loeb and the composition of the team.

Sources