Loeb set to remain in World Rallycross in 2017

Following his maiden World RX last weekend in Latvia, Loeb sits fifth in the WRX standings in his first season in the category.

And the Frenchman has given his biggest indication yet that he is working towards next year with Team Peugeot-Hansen, where he partners multiple World Rallycross event winner Timmy Hansen in a pair of Peugeot 208s.

“For sure I would prefer to be second or third than fifth if we cannot win the championship this year, but it’s a bit late in the year maybe,” said Loeb following his first victory.

“[Johan] Kristoffersson and [Andreas] Bakkerud scored big points in Latvia, so the gap is still similar to how it was before the weekend.

"From this point we will fight to get good results in the last races and see where we end up, but it is important to improve the car for next year.

"I will take the last two events like I have done all season. I try to work as hard as I can and to get experience and to do my best.”

The French driver says that progress made by the Team Peugeot-Hansen squad in recent events helped him to achieve his maiden World RX win in Latvia, a new round on the championship’s calendar.

For the first time in his inaugural World RX season, Loeb won both his semi-final and final to score victory, setting successive fastest laps in the early part of the final to build a margin over championship leader, Mattias Ekstrom, that he wouldn’t relinquish.

“A few races ago we had the feeling that we are not able to win, but since Barcelona, we have improved,” said Loeb.

“We have worked hard on the car we did some testing. The engineers have had a hard time, but it has been worth it.”

The French legend says his goal for his first season in World Rallycross was to win at least one event, but with only three rounds of the year left heading to the Latvian round in Riga last weekend, that task was looking increasingly difficult.

“It was a great day for me [in Latvia]. The goal this year was to win a race, but with time going on there was not a lot of races left, so finally to win is great. I’m really proud of the job done by everyone and happy for myself because it is my first win of the season. I have not been used to that in the past.”

Loeb had run near the front of the order at his home round of World RX at Loheac, but lost his opportunity to fight for the victory when both the Frenchman and his Peugeot struggled in wet conditions on the second day. With recent improvements, Loeb was able to perform in both the wet and the dry in Latvia.

“We had every situation [in Latvia]. Dry, wet, big rain and it’s very nice that we were on the pace,” he said. “I had bad memories from Loheac in the rain where we were not very fast, but we can see that now we have the performance in these kind of conditions,

"I was feeling really good in the car, so it’s looking good for the future.”