The French rally legend revealed on Tuesday via his social media channels that he will be competing in the Rallye des Grands Fonds on June 7-9. The rally takes place on the island of Guadeloupe, an overseas department of France in the Caribbean.
A total of 35 crews are set to compete. Loeb will drive a Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 with Laurène Godey as his co-driver.
“I recently had the chance to discover Guadeloupe for the first time. I found the place very nice. I also saw that there were great roads and, above all, many motorsport enthusiasts, so I am delighted to come and drive there,” Loeb enthused on his social media channels.
The Rallye des Grands Fonds starts on Friday, June 7, with two short special stages that will be run twice. Saturday features seven stages, and the final day on Sunday includes six more stages. In total, there will be just over 126 kilometers of special stages.
In addition to Loeb, the entry list includes the name of Simon Jean-Joseph. Jean-Joseph, from the island of Martinique in the Caribbean, is particularly remembered as Sébastien Ogier‘s forerunner driver in tarmac rallies. However, their collaboration ended this spring, with Ogier’s forerunner driver in Croatia being Stéphane Lefebvre.
For Loeb, the Rallye des Grands Fonds will be his first rally this year. In recent years, the French champion has focused on the World Rally-Raid Championship. Last season, Loeb competed in two rallies, winning both the Azores Rally and the Rallye National Charlemagne in his home country.
Loeb’s last WRC rally was in 2022, but his journey ended prematurely due to an alternator failure in Greece. Earlier that year, in January, Loeb won the Rally Monte Carlo.
