Loeb to continue in WRC

Seven-times World Champion Sebastian Loeb has comfirmed he will continue to compete in the sports top level after recently signing a contract that will run for two-years with Citroen.

Rumours have been circulating for a time now about his retirement being imminent. Indeed, they stretch back to the end of 2009, when, after saying he would be interested in replacing F1 team Toro Rosso's Sebastian Bourdais at the season ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with the possibility of a full-time seat in 2010. Bourdais was fired after the German Grand Prix in July 2009, freeing up a seat for Loeb, but he was unable to get his mandatory Superlicense because he didn't have enough single-seater starts to his name.

After the F1 rumours died down he was then said to be entering sports car racing full time. He has taken part in 2005 & 2005, and took second in 2006. After this, he was said to be switching to the World Touring Car Championship, after being seen in a Chevrolet Cruze at a test session, at the invite of fellow Frenchman Yvan Muller.

“With the arrival of other manufacturers in the championship, the competition is going to get tougher in the years to come. All the more so with the rule changes concerning the starting order coming in in 2012 as all the drivers will be fighting on a level playing field. To take the fight to them I’m putting my trust in Citroen, a team I know inside out and the DS3 WRC, the car that I helped [develop] with Citroen Racing.” Loeb said in a statement on his official website.

General Manager of Citroen, Frederic Banzet, is happy that Loeb will continue with them, going for an eighth successive world title.

“Sebastian Loeb is a great ambassador for the make. Today, his image and ours are intimately linked. He incarnates the daring, the sporting spirit and the love of competition, values that are very dear to us. We’re proud of his loyalty to Citroen and of the fact that he’s continuing with his career with the team that’s supported him since his début.”

Loeb has been with Citroen since his first works start in the WRC on the 2001 Rallye San Remo. He took his first podium and win for Citroen in Germany 2002, his first World title for Citroen in 2004 and has since taken 782 stage wins, 101 podiums, 66 wins and 7 titles. Perhaps most surprisingly, out of his 164 WRC starts, he has only retired 16 times, with only a handful of his own fault.