If your name is Sébastien (or Sebastian), it seems you have a fair-to-middling chance of a Toro Rosso F1 drive, but the latest Seb tipped to follow Vettel, Bourdais and Buemi also has considerable form on tarmac.
Actually, Sébastien Loeb has considerable form on most surfaces. Since he was tempted away from track racing in the late 1990s and early 2000s by Citroën legend Guy Fréquelin to drive Citroën Saxo rally cars, then the WRC-spec Xsaras and now the C4s in which he has dominated world rallying for the last five years, 35-year-old Loeb has proved he made the right move. But with a second place at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2006 with Pescarolo Racing, two Race of Champions victories against established road racers and a test for Red Bull Racing last year, it seems that the Frenchman hasn’t quite given up on showing his stuff at track racing’s top level quite yet.
French newspaper Le Parisien and wrc.com report that Loeb is preparing to test a David Price GP2 car at Jerez on October 8, after the Rally de España, following a chance conversation with an engineer at a Porsche Carrera Cup race in France.
"Because he knows that I love to get more experience at the steering wheel, he informed me that a place was available in the DPR team," Loeb commented.
The five-time WRC champ is then apparently eyeing a crowd-pleasing F1 debut for Scuderia Toro Rosso in Abu Dhabi for the final race of the 2009 season – though we imagine that incumbents Sébastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari might have something to say about that.
It isn’t the first time this year that Loeb has been linked with such a surprise career switch. When rumours began to circulate that Sébastien Bourdais’ position at Toro Rosso was under threat earlier in 2009, Loeb expressed an interest in replacing his compatriot – and USF1, new boys for next year, have also been linked to the Frenchman, with an intriguing possible scenario of the ‘rookie’ being paired with a returning Jacques Villeneuve, 1997 F1 world champion, at the team for 2010.
And it seems that, whatever happens, Loeb’s Citroën team won’t stand in the way of any unfulfilled ambitions, particularly when his WRC commitments are over for the year.
“If someone makes a proposal [for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix] to Sébastien, Citroën Racing will authorise him [to race in F1]," said Loeb’s boss Olivier Quesnel of the speculation.
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