29 Oct 12

Now it's a
McLaren for
Sebastien
Loeb

Sebastien Loeb has driven a McLaren to third place...but he's not contemplating a switch to Formula One that was talked about so often in 2009.

Instead, the nine-time world rally champion took part in the final round of the French GT Tour series at the Paul Ricard circuit in the south of France last weekend, which has recently been linked to a return to the Formula One calendar for next season.

For the first time, Loeb was sharing a McLaren MP4-12C - made by the same company responsible for the cars Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button to fourth and fifth places respectively in the Indian Grand Prix on Sunday - with French racer Gilles Vannelet. They finished third in both hour-long races.

Loeb completed the final stint of the second race and would probably have finished runner-up, had it not been for a delay during the last pit stop. Nonetheless, he enjoyed several frenetic battles in the rush to the chequered flag, seeing off plenty of more experienced racing drivers.

“What I like about racing is that it’s never taken for granted that I’m going to win,” said Loeb, whose car was being run by his eponymous team. “It’s basically like starting all over again, and that’s a lot of fun.”