NINE-time FIA World Rally Champion Sébastien Loeb will drive for Hyundai next season in a deal expected to be announced tomorrow, according to a British report.
The magazine Autosport said Hyundai team manager Alain Penasse confirmed the German-based Korean squad had been talking to Loeb.
Five years after he retired from full-time rallying, the 44-year-old Frenchman made three guest appearances this season for his old team Citroën, culminating in a sensational win on Rally Spain in October.
While Loeb has frequently ruled out a full-time return, the Spanish win prompted him to admit another WRC programme could be on the cards.
Autosport rallies editor David Evans said Hyundai was not expected to include Loeb in its line-up for Rallye Monte-Carlo on 24-27 January, when he would be contesting the Dakar rally in Peru.
The magazine did not say how Loeb might fit into a program at Hyundai, where team leader Thierry Neuville failed to beat Sébastien Ogier to the drivers’ title in the season finale at Kennards Hire Rally Australia last month.
Chris Nixon
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