Sebastien Loeb falls off his bike !!

[Buffalo]

Sebastien Loeb's 2006 WRC title may be in jeopardy as it seems like he has had a fall from a pushbike and broken his arm !!! .... Sounds like he better stick to 4 wheels !!! .... Some may say he could still win the championship driving with one arm !!





Link to Rally Live (in french):
http://rally.racing-live.com/wrc/fr/accueil/news1.shtml (http://rally.racing-live.com/wrc/fr/accueil/news1.shtml)

Translated text:

The Champion of the World in title Sebastien Loeb was operated this morning in Lausanne in Switzerland following a fall which has occurred in VTT. The French, victim of a quadruple fractures humérus which constitutes the skeleton of the arm, thus sees himself inflicting a forced rest. Its participation in the next Rally of Turkey, thirteenth handle of the Championship of the World of the Rallys 2006 which will dispute the 13, October 14 and 15 next, is likely to be extremely compromised but at the present time nothing is still confirmed on behalf of the team Kronos Citroen WRT. Moreover fuller information will be notified to you in due course.

[Buffalo]

From Loeb's webpage .... Seems it's now a quad bike .

Quad bike accident.
Hello to everyone,
Like you probably know already, I broke the top of my humerus yesterday evening (Tuesday) while riding a quad bike. A real tough break.
I was riding on a forest gravel trail and my front wheel got stuck against a rock. I went over the handlebars and landed on my shoulder.
I was operated this morning and saw the doctor this evening. He reassured me about my health condition. The operation went well but I won’t be able to participate in Rally Turkey, that’s for sure! I hope to be fine very soon!
For now I need to rest. I cancelled all my appointments at the Auto Show. I won’t give any interviews for a few days.
I thank you all for your numerous support messages in my guest book! It really touches me and lifts my spirit.
Thanks!
Until next time,

[tonynz]

Could have been playing tennis, like Montoya

[Nick Short]

As there's so much riding on a driver being fit for a championship I always thought that these people had contracts forbidding anything risky. Apart from driving at high speed on slippery surfaces between trees and rocks, of course! Although he could try the Australian driving technique and hang his injured arm out of the window, steering only with one limp hand, as that seems adequate for all sorts of high performance cars.

[Tumbo]

Sounds like he's done a Panizzi; wonder how happy Citroen will be; Pug weren't too happy in losing out- though the publicity here will be more. Could have come at a better time but oh well......don't get well too soon Seb :D Just long enough to make the title fight hot up again

[moxo]

There's a reason they're called Quad bikes - the number of serious injuries from those things.....

Moxo

[Buffalo]

Could have come at a better time but oh well......don't get well too soon Seb :D Just long enough to make the title fight hot up again

The FIA are now looking into a new handicapping system for 2007 and beyond whereby Seb Loeb has a limb broken in several places at sometime during the championship year;) :D .

[Tumbo]

How about put him in a Subaru and see how fast he really is ;)

[whitlam]

There's a reason they're called Quad bikes - the number of serious injuries from those things.....

Moxo


and here I was thinking it was because they had 4 wheels ;)

[rex555]

The FIA are now looking into a new handicapping system for 2007 and beyond whereby Seb Loeb has a limb broken in several places at sometime during the championship year;) :D .


Are they looking for volunteers to carry this out? ;)

[szwadiak100]

Might sound harsh, but the WRC really needed something to make the championship a little more interesting. Maybe Gronholm can catch up a bit while he's out.

[brchi17]

The FIA are now looking into a new handicapping system for 2007 and beyond whereby Seb Loeb has a limb broken in several places at sometime during the championship year;) :D .

How about put him in a Subaru and see how fast he really is ;)

I think that handicap would be too great even for one as good as him.....

[Tumbo]

especially as its the Xsara that makes Loeb unbeatable ;) even gronholm has shown his speed in other cars; Loeb has driven nothing but a Citroen since 2001

[singer]

The only thing I have to say is that QUAD BIKES ARE DANGEROUS:mad: & NEED TO BE TREATED WITH THE SAME RESPECT AS ANY OTHER MOTOR BIKE

[k1w1taxi]

So if it is all Xsara and no Loeb what about Mssrs McRae and Duval?

Look at the record
1st Full Season = 2nd o/a
2nd Full Season = Champion

Thats not all the car

Cheers
Lee

[Tumbo]

I'm not saying Loeb isn't talented but rather like Makinen in the Mitsubishi he has had the car built around him. Since he drove the Saxo in 2001 his last outing in a non-citroen rally car was in 2000 in a Toyota Corolla. He needs to show speed in something other than a purpose built car.

Gronholm showed speed in Mitsubishi, Seat and toyota before moving to Pug; winning two titles then a move to Ford.

McRae and Duval both showed speed in the Xsara but the car itself is better suited to a driving style like Loeb- which is similar to a later Sainz who also showed speed in the car ;)

Until Loeb does a Makinen/Sainz/McRae/Blomquist/Alen et al and wins in more than just one car he isn't the greatest ever. His record is helped by the car and team. Put him in a Subaru and I doubt he would do any better than Solberg

[malscar]

Then again, if he did not have a lot of talent, the LeMans drive would have shown that up. Also remember before Loeb you had Bulgalski doing a lot of the development over a few years. He just did not have the same natural talent.
Loeb was a top gymnast before rallying and if you look at a lot of the very top sportspeople, they seem to be very good in more than one disipline.

[k1w1taxi]

Put him in a Subaru and I doubt he would do any better than Solberg

Actually I beg to differ. Fan though I am of Hollywood I think he is the wrong sort of driver to get the best out of the current scooby and as a result of the continuing run of poor results he is overdriving to try and compensate. Makes for great watching ala Vatanen or Gilles Villeneuve, but not what is required in current circumstances at Prodrive.

Loebs supersmooth style and greater mechanical sympathy would pay better dividends I feel. I guess we will find out next year with the all new C4.

Cheers
Lee

[Tumbo]

Remember that the Xsara is a machine; the rock which killed Gronholm's Ford earlier in the yr (forget which rally) was also driven over on the exact same line by Loeb; did the car break? No.....Hollywood may be overdriving the car but the Subaru is a dog. I'm a fan of the Subey but it sucks and as for Petter well......mmm.....he isn't a Loeb but he is talented and the car is letting him down.

[Chev_350]

Remember that the Xsara is a machine; the rock which killed Gronholm's Ford earlier in the yr (forget which rally) was also driven over on the exact same line by Loeb; did the car break? No.

could it be that that Gronholm's car kicked the rock away from the driving line?

[Tumbo]

I'll have to check but i'm pretty sure that the rock remained in the same place; both drivers cut a corner and the rock was cemented off the driving line- from the footage and undercarriage it appears to have hit the same spot but the Xsara had a tank-like resiliance. As a result Ford have improved that area of the car.

End of the day you can't take it away from citroen that they have the strongest car; I just question the ability of Loeb and would love to see him show his speed in another manufacturer's machine which isn't built around him

[Buffalo]

Apparently Colin McRae will replace Loeb for the Rally of Turkey in a week or so !!! His last WRC drive was in the SKODA at Rally OZ last year where he did some hot times so the Rally of Turkey should be an eye opener to see exactly how fast the XSARA and MCRAE are .....

[lexoto]

i can't see mcrae even getting close to gronholm.

[rex555]

Apparently Colin McRae will replace Loeb for the Rally of Turkey in a week or so !!! His last WRC drive was in the SKODA at Rally OZ last year where he did some hot times so the Rally of Turkey should be an eye opener to see exactly how fast the XSARA and MCRAE are .....

Didn't he have that opportunity when both he and Sainz moved from Ford to Citroen a couple of years ago? In fact I have the "Au reviour, Mr. McCrash" that was his last Citroen drive in 2003(???)

[Buffalo]

Didn't he have that opportunity when both he and Sainz moved from Ford to Citroen a couple of years ago? In fact I have the "Au reviour, Mr. McCrash" that was his last Citroen drive in 2003(???)

Yes but isn;t it fair to say that the XSARA has been developed into a much faster and more reliable car than 2003 ?

[rex555]

Same equipment that Sainz & Loeb had and they seemed to do OK. Don't get me wrong, I wish him well, but he wasn't that flash in the car before.

[Buffalo]

Either way it will be interesting come Turkey time ! ... me personally I would have rather seen Toni Gardemeister in the Kronos XSARA.

[rex555]

Now that would have made more sense given that Gardemeister has been going quite well in the privateer version. I was surprised to see how poorly Dani Sordo is doing after his shunt in Finland. He was doing really well in the season, fast and crashless until then. Seems to have lost some pace since then.

[rex555]

Just found out reading Motor Mag that Loeb was caught cheating in Finland! Since the demise of gravel crews, the only feed back the crews are supposed to get after recce is in the event. Loeb was caught by Solberg handing his notes over to a 3rd party who then went back over the stages. Citroen later admitted that they had done it before but 'wouldn't do it again'. This was only reported in the Norwegian and Finnish media. I guess Dave Richards wouldn't want his tv rights being made worthless by the (rightfull) exclusion of Loeb and Citroen so it was all hushed up. Must be something in the French psychie since both 'Punchy' Panizzi and Francois Delacort have been caught cheating in the past.

[Tumbo]

although how you could call Delecour's uphill bikeride cheating :rolleyes: this is a pretty serious offence though; given that Citroen have admitted this one has to question whether they are deserving champions now. A shame.

[Buffalo]

Am not sure that it was cheating - more like unsportsmanlike behaviour however every faculty of motorsport has been known to bend the rules ...

At the time when it happened - According to Finnish newspaper Ilta Sanomat,Loeb gave his pace notes to another person after completing his maximum two passes allowed over the stages during the Rally Finland recce.This person then drove through the stages again with a co-driver, further checking and refining the notes.The regulations state each competitor can have a support car on the recce, but the rules do not mention anything about pace notes in the car.But Solberg-and many other drivers-were unhappy at what they saw as unsporting behaviour.When questioned about his alleged newspaper claims,Solberg said:"I didn't call him a cheat, i just said he did something which wasn't legal.Marcus(Gronholm),all of us know about it and none of us like it.I just asked(the Subaru team)if it was possible for me to do the same on the next round and i was told no-that's what makes me angry.If it's okay for one to do it,why not all of us?"
Loeb declined to comment on the story,simply saying:"I have nothing to say,there is no cheating"

[Tumbo]

the proble is that this specifically flies in the face of the changes introduced regarding gravel crews; safetywise the FIA need to rethink their position regarding gravel crews ging back over the stages for the drivers.

[Buffalo]

Not necessarily ... as far as I can tell ... Loeb was caught having a crew of sorts do extra passes over a stage during the recce period - ie before the rally. Gravel crews were used during the rally - ie the morning before a days stages to go over the stages to make extra notes if things had changed since doing the recce - ie rain, mud, rocks on road, ice etc etc ... I believe gravel crews were banned to reduce cost ?? ... IMO gravel crews should be allowed to improve safety as after all - notes are not only pace notes - they are safety notes. Mind you the other bad thing about the idea of gravel crews is that they take away from the "unknown road conditions" that is in my opinion one of the cornerstones of the rallying charter .... with all the "practice" that takes place on short sprint stages a rally nowadays starts to become like a circuit race where drivers can "learn" a track.

[Tumbo]

Excellent point there Buffalo I do agree. The problem is that the FIA are trying to reduce costs by turning rallying into F1; all this is serving to do is increase costs; drive away manuacturers and fans. Bring back the late 80s, early 90s. Even with grp A at least we saw action on the stages. I know many like Loeb but its boring watching him beat a sub-par field. yes Gronholm is there but who else?????? The stages are no longer true tests of machine and the ability of cars to re-enter the rally after going out only works because there are only 11 WRC entries at best. The sooner the winds of change come through the FIA the better. Considering that a recomendation of the coroner in the UK on Beef's death was the possible future use of gravel crews to confirm if there are changes in road conditions to minimise the risk of a similar situation arising one would think there would have been a rethink on the strategy

[k1w1taxi]

Another benefit of the gravel crews that I am sure Seb would be happy with is that they travel the road on racing lines. This negates some of his disadvantage being first on the road.

Generally though I agree with the sentiments that the modern version of Rallying is like kindergarten compared to 20 years ago, let alone 30. Sure the 18 hours competitive days may be stretching it but all this central servicing and using the same roads 2-3 times per leg is crap. Might as well watch Rallycross!

[Andrew]

Well, this latest news is disappointing by Loeb, and one expects better.....
Could he be the Michael Schumacher of rallying?
If Citroen have been caught doing this in contravention of the spirit of the competition, then why haven't he and Citroen been penalised?

If it was a simple gravel crew for safety's sake, then that's fine, but handing his notes to a 3rd party to fine tune and re-check.... It defeats the purpose of only two runs over the stages. It is semantics whether it is Loeb and Elena or another crew - his notes have been created and fine-tuned over more than the allowed 2 runs over a stage. That in itself should result in expulsion from an event.....