The battle to partner Freddy Loix at Kronos Racing in this season's International Rally Championship has intensified with Nicolas Vouilloz and Bryan Bouffier both having been linked to the second permanent Peugeot 207 S2000 seat.
Multiple downhill mountain bike champion Vouilloz claimed three victories on last year's IRC, while Bouffier is the reigning Polish rally champion, giving Kronos - the team behind
Citroen's WRC success in 2006 - a tough decision.
A third full-specification Peugeot 207 S2000 will also be run by Kronos - in collaboration with French tyre firm BFGoodrich - for different up-and-coming local drivers on every rally.
Loix, meanwhile, is raring to go, and believes that a full testing programme will be the key to his title hopes this year. Before each event, Kronos is expected to carry out a full day's testing in order to establish the most effective set-up for the local roads, and also has a full pre-season testing schedule planned.
“A proper test programme was a very important factor," Loix said, "Last year, everyone else had a lot more testing than me but, this time, we should be well-prepared for every event.”
Kronos will begin its programme on the second round of the IRC in Portugal, but Loix is anxious to take the start of the first round, the Safari Rally, as well.
“I'd like to be there,” he added, “Last year, we saw that Andrea Navarra was able to profit from his win on the Safari Rally all year. I'd like to find the budget to add the Safari to my programme.”
