If you could pick one rally driver you’d want to see get behind the wheel of the competitive Fabie RS Rally2, it’s likely to be Loeb. A forty-nine year old Frenchman who continues to amaze with his speed, talent and determination. A man who really knows how to drive and get the most out of the car. When he won the Monte Carlo last year, the entire automotive world was in awe. This January, he surprised again by winning six stages in the Dakar. And now all Czech fans can look forward to what the alien behind the wheel of the much loved Fabia can do.

So let’s sum up. Officially, we only know that Sébastien Loeb will be driving Rallye Azores Portugal from March 31 to April 2. She will be driving the Fabia RS Rally2 and the navigator will be Laurene Godeyová. And no, this is not a Škoda Motorsport factory team event…

Loeb will drive a racing car from the German Toksport WRT team, which regularly prepares its cars for the World Championship in the WRC 2 category. And it’s not surprising, in the last two years his car has won the world title, in 2021 Andreas Mikkelsen won with them , last year Emil Lindholm.

Loeb simply posted this: “I’m excited to start Rallye Azores for the first time in my career. This week and this unusual venture is sure to please me. I will have Lauréne in my right hand and I will get to know the new Škoda Fabia RS Rally2.”

As already mentioned, these would be two firsts for Loeb. He had never raced in the Azores and had never entered a Fabia competition before. But it was easy that he would definitely manage to handle both of them. Although he himself has mentioned in the past that he considers one of his perks to be taking memory tests and the Azores would be a completely new environment for him, he is not to be underestimated. He can read the environment perfectly and his adaptation to new conditions and new technologies is truly notable. However, most of Toksport’s WRT team are currently in Mexico for the World Championships, so Loeb doesn’t have much time to prepare. And he’s ridden with Lauréne Godey so far only twice, first at the Rallye Terre du Haut-Var with the Hyundai i20 R5 and then at the Rallye du Var with the Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC. They then won the second competition.

A few days ago we wrote in Garage about how Colin McRae drives the Fabia WRC. And it could be a good story too, although it’s unlikely we’ll see Loeb behind the wheel of a Fabia competition on a regular basis. His participation in local events can be seen as a way to diversify the spring season and keep fit, as M-Sport and the World Championship organizers are still interested in Loeb. “I would be very happy if he drove our car. Before the season, I thought it could be more often, but now our priority is Ott Tänak, who leads the World Rally Championship standings,” said team boss Malcolm Wilson in an interview.

But who knows, maybe it could be the start of an interesting collaboration…

We also remind you that the Azores Rally will be held for the 57th time and Jan Kopecký won here in 2013. It is a beautiful gravel competition and most of the teams regret that the organizers cut it from the European calendar.