WRC France was lost without Loeb

Finally, Sebastien Loeb fans were happy again. Alsace was alive with the World Rally Championship and the local hero had just dropped the clutch on his factory Citroen.

But he'd done it 5232 miles away in Beijing. And he'd done it in a C-Elysee WTCC not a DS3 WRC.

Hmm, not ideal.

The Haguenau faithful missed their man badly in Strasbourg last weekend. And the Rally of France-Alsace badly missed Loeb. It just wasn't the same.

In all honesty, the scenes witnessed 12 months ago weren't normal as 12,000 folk packed into the Strasbourg Zenith to wave goodbye to Loeb.

Last year's Rally of France was all about Loeb's farewell © McKlein

The only one not in tears was the man himself. Loeb's not a crier.

But he is a pukka local hero. And a national treasure. In short, he made the Rally of France.

This had always been the big question when the FFSA elected to shift its round of the World Rally Championship from Corsica to Alsace. At some point, they knew this day would come; the day when their event had to stand up and be counted as a sporting occasion rather than an opportunity for the devoted to come and deify their champion.

That day was Sunday.

Having been over-run in years gone by, the organisers had become used to installing double barriers, more police, many more marshals and no end of tape in an effort to keep Loeb safe, within sight and just out of reach.

Last year, from early morning, fans arrived in service to park themselves outside Citroen or to queue to get into the Zenith for the big farewell. The barriers coped. Just about.

This time around, the barriers and the additional Gendarmes really weren't needed. Watching folk coming in on Sunday was like comparing attendance at a 'Rollin Stoned' gig to the opening night of the Stones' 1989 Steel Wheels Tour of America.

The substantial crowd barriers weren't so essential this time

It didn't compare.

The raw emotion and electricity of the place when Loeb waved his way out of the World Rally Championship was an absolute one-off. This rally will never match those scenes again. It's doubtful whether any rally will.

As then-Citroen team principal Olivier Quesnel told me as we watched thousands line up in the rain: "Sebastien is not a rally driver anymore... he's a rock star."

And this sport's not overburdened with rock stars.

So, it's decision time for the Rally of France Alsace. If rumours are to be believed, the event could well be on the move - possibly even back to Corsica - for next year.

Or it might be lost for good.

I must admit, that would be harsh treatment of what is one of the better-organised rounds of the series. But, like I said, this moment has been coming ever since Ajaccio was ditched in favour of Alsace.

There's no doubt there's healthy support from rally fans - its relatively central European location helps there - but the future, it seems, will forever be in the shade of the Loeb years.

Ogier doesn't have the same fanbase in Alsace © McKlein

You might find it odd that this problem exists when France was ready to celebrate another drivers' title for its other superstar, Sebastien Ogier.

None of the above is any reflection on Ogier at all, he had solid support last week, but in reality and by his own admission, when you think of Alsace, you think of Loeb.

Ogier was at home nine months earlier when the season started from his hometown of Gap for the Monte Carlo Rally. Support for the Volkswagen man was huge down there.

Which does bring us neatly to the next point: why does France need two rounds of the World Rally Championship?

Yes, you can argue that the Monte Carlo Rally belongs to the Principality of Monaco, but does that argument really stand when every competitive mile of round one takes place over the border in France?

There might be the argument that France was once Europe's biggest country (it's the Ukraine now the Iron Curtain's been drawn), so perhaps having a round at the bottom and one nearer the middle is fair.

OK, but let's not forget, at their closest points, Rally of France and Rally Germany are about an hour's drive apart. Not the end of the world is it?

Latvala had been close to asphalt wins before, and finally clinched one in France © McKlein

It's a shame more fans didn't turn out, though. It was worth it just to watch Jari-Matti Latvala coming of asphalt age.

Once Ogier hit trouble on day one, Andreas Mikkelsen and Kris Meeke did their best to keep the Finn honest, but once Latvala tore through Saturday afternoon's Vallee de Munster stage 5.4 seconds faster than his Norwegian team-mate, the deal was done. The rally won. And the procession of driving to split times began.

An outright thriller it was not.

But Latvala's fascinating and intriguing character turned it into a real page-turner. His attention to detail is second to none in this sport.

Every question on Sunday afternoon was dealt with the utmost care and attention to every detail. It was amusing to watch Latvala's deep disappointment with his own encyclopaedic knowledge as he wrestled with his own question of when two Scandinavians last finished first and second on an asphalt round of the championship.

That one got me thinking. Firstly, we need to clarify what is Scandinavia, with only Norway, Denmark and Sweden counting as the original Scandinavian countries. Equally, anybody who can complete a Scandinavian flick as comprehensively as Latvala qualifies automatically. Good, that's that bit sorted.

But are we looking only at a pure asphalt rally here or does a split-surface Sanremo count? If it's got to be a pure asphalt round of the championship then I'm afraid I'm beaten. I can't remember it ever happening before.

But, if we're content with a significant degree of black-top content on Italy's round of the championship then how about the 1982 Sanremo, when Audi's Stig Blomqvist and Hannu Mikkola were one-two?

Abbring had chance to show his ability at last © McKlein

I suspect this one will trouble Latvala for a long time to come.

What won't trouble him anymore is what it takes to win on this surface. He is a true all-rounder and not many managed that. Not even a megastar like Colin McRae won on snow. Latvala, more than anybody, appreciates the magnitude of what Sunday meant.

Two more drivers stood out in Strasbourg: Elfyn Evans and Kevin Abbring.

Without an electrical glitch, Evans would likely have finished fourth in France.

So what, you might say, he did that in Mexico and Germany. But this fourth would have been altogether different. This time he was bang on the pace, setting fastest sector times and driving with the pace and self-assurance of somebody considerably older and wiser.

And finally Abbring gets the chance to show what he can do on the big stage.

There's never been any doubting the Dutch driver's pace and when Volkswagen was forced to select him or Mikkelsen for the third Polo, there must have been an element of Hobson about the choice.

Abbring has shown masses of promise in the European Rally Championship this season, but has been routinely let down by a teething-troubled Peugeot 208 T16.

Last week, the car held together and Abbring drove exceptionally to boss the WRC2 field. That he wasn't registered and therefore didn't win, matters not a jot. He was fastest and those who matter know what that means.