A year has passed already since we were last in Gap, shaking hands and wishing each other a Happy New Year after the winter break.
Little has changed since 2014 and, once again, there has been a healthy flow of spectators in the service park. And you can bet that where the crowds formed, there was a ‘Seb’ – or a ‘Seb-car’ – nearby!
It’s effectively been some time since we last saw so many people in front of the Citroën area. Unsurprisingly, they tended to gather at one end, near the DS3 WRC with the letters L-O-E-B on the side windows, hoping to catch a glimpse of the seven-time Monte winner (2003/04/05/07/08/12/13). Each time he did appear, the familiar chant of “Seb, Seb!” broke out spontaneously.
There have been similar gatherings at Volkswagen Motorsport’s ‘garage’, in this case waiting to catch sight of Sébastien Ogier. The VW driver may not enjoy the same household reputation as his Alsace-bred rival, but here he is on home soil, since he was raised in the mountains north of Gap. That said, some of the local onlookers could be heard whispering “Is that him?” as they pointed to his co-driver Julien Ingrassia, or to team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala…
Eight years younger than Loeb, Ogier has won the Monte twice (2009/14) and is looking to take a step closer to his former team-mate’s record this week, but rally fans are hoping that their media-fuelled rivalry will produce a memorable battle to celebrate Loeb’s fleeting return from ‘retirement’.
The latter ended his formal WRC career with a roll on the 2013 Rallye de France. Funnily enough, he began his comeback event with another roll, this time on a road section during this morning’s recce! It appears he was distracted and slipped off the road negotiating a hairpin…
This afternoon’s shakedown was always going to provide an interesting indication of the pair’s current respective form and Loeb promptly posted the session’s best effort (2m21.0s). That was more than a second clear of Ogier over the snow-free 3.52km run!
Clearly, the Citroën driver hasn’t lost his touch and it seems we are effectively heading for the clash of giants everybody has been hoping for.
That said, the two Frenchmen will spend much of the rally running up to 14 cars apart on the road (with Ogier at the front of the field) and there is a chance that this difference will affect their stage times and tactics. But in whose favour? That remains to be seen and, to a large extent, will depend on how the week’s weather turns…
We shall see!

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