However disaster struck the Frenchman just days after that win, when he broke his right arm while training for Turkey. As a result he will miss this event and while he still looks odds on to take the drivers’ title, when he will return to action is currently unknown. Most suspect though that he won’t be back until the Rally New Zealand, something that will give him over 7 weeks to recover. If that does prove to be the case he will miss the Rally Australia as well.
Loeb’s injury is however, a big blow for Kronos-
Citroen - especially as they saw their 12-point cushion in the manufacturers’ reduced to just 7 points following BP-Ford’s 2-3 finish on the ‘Island of Aphrodite’.
Kronos boss, Marc van Dalen has thus opted to draft in
Colin McRae to fill the void - at least for this event - and while the Brit’s reputation is good, he hasn’t competed full-time in the WRC since 2003, when he was with the ‘factory’ Citroen Sport squad.
“To replace Seb is impossible, that is clear - and finding a driver who could help during his absence was not an easy task. Together with [Citroen Sport boss] Guy Frequelin, we deeply thought about it and came up with a list of names. For each candidate, we listed the pros and cons. We thought about it again over the weekend [of September 30-October 1] and both of us reached the same conclusion,” explained van Dalen. “With his knowledge of the car and his experience, Colin seems to be the one that will be able to perform in such a short period of time. He is extremely motivated to face this situation which he considers a personal challenge. We know his speed, but also we know that his job won’t be easy. We will ask him to put the maximum pressure on Marcus Gronholm, as well as thinking of the manufacturers’ points for which we are still fighting.”
