Team orders could hit Loeb bid

Citroen's Sebastien Loeb could lose his chance of winning the WRC drivers' title as he will be told by his bosses to back off in his duel with Subaru's Petter Solberg to ensure the French marque wins the manufacturers' title

Nov 7, 2003, 12:30 PM

Citroen leads the manufacturer's standings by five points from Peugeot, but following the exit of Carlos Sainz on SS3, the marque is concerned that it needs to ensure that both its remaining cars get to the finish.

"Now we have no second car we need both our other cars to finish," said Frequelin. "For sure it is difficult now, and I must speak with Sebastien to tell him he needs to finish the rally. Maybe it's bad for the sport and bad for the fight between him and Solberg. It is very clear that the manufacturers' championship comes before the drivers' championship. We can't take risks."

Loeb said: "I don't know anything about it at the moment, I have not spoken to Guy yet. If I want to win the drivers' championship I have to beat Petter. We will see."

Solberg dismissed the story, however: "People talk a lot of bullshit. It's always going to be a straight fight between us."