Nine-time world champion Sébastien Loeb will compete in a 2017-era Fiesta WRC this June
Sébastien Loeb will compete on the fourth round of the French Tarmac championship, Rallye Vosges – Grand-Est, in the final generation of Ford Fiesta WRC after securing special dispensation.
Nine-time world champion Loeb will drive the car alongside his partner Lauréne Godey at the event, which he won in 2019 in a factory-run Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC.
Post-2016 WRC machinery is typically forbidden in French national championships but with limited exceptions, which Loeb has unsurprisingly been granted.
French rallying regulations state: “The FFSA may grant an exemption for the one-off entry of WRC 1.6T cars built after 1 September 2016 that comply with Article 255A of Annex J, as currently in force, in a national rally (excluding regional rallies).”
Win an M-Sport Rally1 ride in the DirtFish WiM auction!
Unlike his 2019 outing, which was permissible as a factory entrant, Loeb’s Vosges entry will be as a privateer. He will borrow Armando Pereira’s privately-owned Fiesta chassis; it started life as Sébastien Ogier’s Corsica-winning car in 2018.
“It’s true that I like coming back to the French championship from time to time, and I also enjoy doing rallies,” said Loeb. “I really like rally raid, but doing a small rally in France like this every now and then is nice.
“It will be with a Fiesta WRC that has kindly made available to me, which is great. And it will be at the Vosges Rally because Lauréne is from the Vosges region. For a while now she’s been asking me: why do we always drive Var, Mont Blanc, etc and never Vosges?”
This won’t be the first time Loeb has ever driven a 2017-era Fiesta WRC, though it is the first time he’ll have competed in one.
Loeb has driven a Fiesta WRC before – but only in a testing environment, never in competition
“Before doing the 2022 Monte Carlo Rally, I drove this car a bit to get back into the rhythm of the WRC because it had been a while since I’d driven. Plus, with a Fiesta, it was a chance to have a car close to the one I’d have at Monte Carlo, knowing that my testing for Monte Carlo was a bit limited so I drove this car. I really liked it [back then] and then the opportunity arose to take it for the Vosges Rally, so I seized the opportunity.”
Rallye Vosges – Grand-Est takes place on June 13-14. Though the entry list is to be confirmed, six-time French Tarmac champion Yoann Bonato is likely to be Loeb’s biggest rival for victory aboard a factory-supported Lancia Ypsilon Rally2 HF Integrale.
Tags: CFR, CFR 2026, Rallye Vosges - Grand-Est, Sebastien Loeb
Publish Date April 29, 2026 DirtFish
https://dirtfish-editorial.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2026/04/9yBpNYHt-SI202204300071-780x520.jpg April 29, 2026
Share:
Comments
