Loeb: I’ll miss not chasing titles

Sebastien Loeb says not competing for the FIA World Rally Championship title will be one of the biggest things he misses when he goes part time in 2013.

WRC legend Loeb is targeting a partial campaign next season as he builds up to a planned FIA World Touring Car Championship bid from 2014 with current employer Citroen. As a result, he won’t be in contention for a 10th WRC crown.

“The fact I will not be competing for the title and I will not have this target for the season to try to win the title will be a bit different,” Loeb answered WRC fan Isak Ruuska in a question and answer session on WRC.com recently. “I will still have a lot of things to do [next year], maybe some GT racing and preparing for the 2014 WTCC with Citroen. I will be driving but I won’t have this target.”

Loeb made it nine WRC titles with victory on Rallye de France Alsace earlier this month in the Citroen DS3 WRC he shares with co-driver Daniel Elena. Their world championship schedule in 2013 could total five events, the first time since 2006 that they won’t have undertaken a full roster of rallies after Loeb was forced to pull out of the closing four rounds due to injury.