Nasser Al-Attiyah and Sébastien Loeb are the 2 greatest stars of rally raid at the moment, however each could be headed for greener pastures in 2024.
Talking 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 preserve him of their ranks and he intends to launch negotiations for such a risk, 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 rapidly turned the Toyota Hilux into some of the 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 the moment leads the W2RC standings after successful 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 informed MARCA. “We end the contract in August and it will likely be then once we will have a look at it.”
Loeb sits second behind Al-Attiyah. He has raced for Prodrive and their rally raid manufacturing facility workforce Bahrain Raid Xtreme since 2021, stringing back-to-back runner-up finishes at Dakar which included successful seven phases with six in a row on the 2023 version.
Nevertheless, there are rumours suggesting BRX’s main backer Mumtalakat Holding Firm has ended its funding of the workforce; Mumtalakat is the sovereign wealth fund of the Kingdom of Bahrain. Whereas not sufficient to shutter the workforce completely, the chatter speculated BRX would skip the Desafío Ruta 40 and give attention to the season-ending Rallye du Maroc to organize for the 2024 Dakar Rally, which might give up the championship to Al-Attiyah.
MARCA steered that had Prodrive received at Sonora, the place Loeb was main the general earlier than crashing in Stage #3, they “would absolutely go” to Argentina to proceed the W2RC pursuit. Nevertheless, since they didn’t “even get on the rostrum, it’s troublesome for the workforce” 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 continues to be reportedly set to run out at yr’s finish. Ought to both driver depart their outfits, there are nonetheless loads of choices in T1 and the T1+ subcategory.
M-Sport is probably one of many extra intriguing choices as they’re growing the Ford Ranger T1+ to début in 2024. The workforce had signed Loeb’s BRX team-mate Nani Roma in early Might and can also be negotiating a cope with Laia Sanz to pilot a second entry, whereas principal Malcolm Wilson has expressed curiosity in fielding three Rangers whole. Loeb is a pure candidate for the third experience, having run 4 World Rally Championship races for M-Sport in 2022 and successful 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 latest producers “very constructive”.
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 workforce, having raced for Peugeot from 2016 to 2020; Bruno Famin, Peugeot’s boss for the primary half of that stretch, is at the moment the director of Renault’s Alpine F1 Staff. 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 cautious of returning because of the efficiency hole between them and the T1+ operations.
