[ad_1]
Nasser Al-Attiyah and Sébastien Loeb are the 2 greatest stars of rally raid at this time, however each is perhaps headed for greener pastures in 2024.
Speaking with MARCA, Al-Attiyah revealed his contract with Toyota expires on 1 September, the ultimate day of the World Rally-Raid Championship‘s subsequent race Desafío Ruta 40. Whereas Toyota will definitely need to maintain him of their ranks and he intends to launch negotiations for such a chance, he additionally famous he expects to be in talks with two different manufacturers.
Already a two-time winner of the Dakar Rally and FIA World Cup for Cross-Nation Rallies champion he signed with Toyota in 2016, Al-Attiyah shortly turned the Toyota Hilux into one of the vital profitable rally raid autos of all time. Save for a retirement in his first strive in 2017, he has by no means completed worse than second at Dakar with victories in 2019, 2022, and 2023, whereas additionally claiming the ultimate World Cup title adopted by the inaugural World Rally-Raid Championship in 2022. He at present leads the W2RC standings after profitable the Sonora Rally.
“My contract ends after Argentina, and it will likely be there once we will speak with Toyota and with two different producers,” Al-Attiyah advised MARCA. “We end the contract in August and it will likely be then once we will take a look at it.”
Loeb sits second behind Al-Attiyah. He has raced for Prodrive and their rally raid manufacturing unit crew Bahrain Raid Xtreme since 2021, stringing back-to-back runner-up finishes at Dakar which included profitable seven phases with six in a row on the 2023 version.
Nonetheless, there are rumours suggesting BRX’s major backer Mumtalakat Holding Firm has ended its funding of the crew; Mumtalakat is the sovereign wealth fund of the Kingdom of Bahrain. Whereas not sufficient to shutter the crew completely, the chatter speculated BRX would skip the Desafío Ruta 40 and deal with the season-ending Rallye du Maroc to arrange for the 2024 Dakar Rally, which might give up the championship to Al-Attiyah.
MARCA urged that had Prodrive gained at Sonora, the place Loeb was main the general earlier than crashing in Stage #3, they “would certainly go” to Argentina to proceed the W2RC pursuit. Nonetheless, since they didn’t “even get on the rostrum, it’s troublesome for the crew” to take action. Loeb racing the DR40 was already unsure as his co-driver Fabian Lurquin fractured his shoulder within the wreck.
Even when BRX finishes out the season with Loeb, his contract with them remains to be reportedly set to run out at 12 months’s finish. Ought to both driver depart their outfits, there are nonetheless loads of choices in T1 and the T1+ subcategory.
M-Sport is maybe one of many extra intriguing choices as they’re creating the Ford Ranger T1+ to début in 2024. The crew had signed Loeb’s BRX team-mate Nani Roma in early Could and can also be negotiating a take care of Laia Sanz to pilot a second entry, whereas principal Malcolm Wilson has expressed interest in fielding three Rangers complete. Loeb is a pure candidate for the third trip, having run 4 World Rally Championship races for M-Sport in 2022 and winning the Monte Carlo Rally.
Al-Attiyah was requested by MARCA about Ford, to which he merely responded he had his personal plans to comply with however known as the arrival of recent producers “very optimistic”.
Renault, who intends to return to rally raid in 2025 with the Dacia model, has additionally been linked to Loeb. It might not be Loeb’s first time working with a fellow French crew, having raced for Peugeot from 2016 to 2020; Bruno Famin, Peugeot’s boss for the primary half of that stretch, is at present the director of Renault’s Alpine F1 Crew. With Prodrive’s future doubtful ought to Bahrain’s sponsorship certainly be gone, French media has entertained the opportunity of Prodrive additionally partnering with Renault.
Audi’s plans for 2024 are equally unknown. Regardless of a lot hype surrounding their RS Q e-tron E2 and its participation within the T1.U class, MARCA reported the model is wary of returning as a result of efficiency hole between them and the T1+ operations.
[ad_2]
Source link
