M-Sport Ford announced that nine-time World Rally Champion, Sébastien Loeb, will once again compete behind the wheel of a M-Sport Ford Puma Hybrid Rally1 on Rally de Portugal in May.
After a breath-taking debut with the M-Sport on Rallye Monte Carlo in January, M-Sport can now confirm Loeb and co-driver Isabelle Galmiche will re-join M-Sport to complete a five-car Puma Hybrid Rally1 assault in Portugal.
All-time great Loeb returned to the World Rally Championship in January, claiming a total of six stage wins throughout the event as he battled against eight-time champion Sebastien Ogier before taking an overall victory at the 2022 season’s opening event.
After an intense and varied start of the year, competing in multiple disciplines around the globe, Loeb will take to the famous Porto gravel stages assisted by Galmiche, the first woman to record an overall event victory in WRC since 1997, made even more special with it being her first ever world outing with Loeb.
Rallye de Portugal marks a landmark occasion for the M-Sport Ford World Rally team which will become the first manufacturer to ever field five Rally1 cars on the same event. It’s an exciting opportunity for the team with a wide range of talent heading to Portugal.
Loeb’s return coincides with the 50th anniversary celebrations of the World Rally Championship. A variety of activities are planned throughout the rally weekend as rallying celebrates 50 years of epic action on the most challenging stages and surfaces in the world.
The legendary Frenchman’s strong history on the event started back in 2007, where he claimed a victory on his debut in Portugal, after winning 11 of 18 stages. He went on to win the event again in 2009, then collecting a further two podium finishes and a grand total of 32 stage wins to add to his record-breaking tally.
Sebastien Loeb said: “Driving the Puma is one of my favourite rally memories; winning Monte Carlo after such a long time was incredible. The team worked really well, with a quick fix to the difficulties we faced at shakedown, allowing us to claim our 80th rally win.”
“From my first test with this car, I immediately had a very good feeling and I enjoy driving with so much power with the hybrid system. It’s a great car, a great team and we celebrated an incredible moment together.
“Portugal was an empty space in my calendar and it’s a gravel rally, I have competed on this version of the rally in 2019 so I have a base of pacenotes from some of the stages. That was one of the reasons for choosing Portugal, the other was I wanted to do a gravel rally; I like driving on gravel so it was a very straightforward choice.”
Rich Millener, Team Principal, said: “The memories of Monte Carlo still live strong in my mind, and I am sure this is the same for all the team.”
“Personally, to have another chance to work with Seb and Isabelle is a dream come true. The fact that they want to come and drive with us again is something incredibly special for the team and reflects all of the hard work being put in by everybody back home.
“It is also really important to give special thanks to Ford and Red Bull who have been pivotal in securing the pairing for this event – another example of how our partners are working together to give us the strongest line-up possible for the events in the WRC this season. I am genuinely excited to see what happens on the legendary Portugal stages, and I know the fans will be very excited to see this news and I look forward to seeing their support over the event weekend!”
Malcolm Wilson, Managing Director, said: “This has been made possible by our great partners, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how Seb and the Puma Hybrid Rally1 perform on the first real gravel event of the year.”
“It’s great to have such a strong line-up of drivers and I’m very proud that our team is going to be the first to run five top-level cars at a WRC event. If anything, this shows just how appealing these Rally1 cars, and the Puma in particular, are to drivers and we hope to continue to push the limits of the sport.”
“I am also hoping this popularity of the Rally1 cars will lead us to seeing more customers cars competing on events around the world.” He concluded