Nine-time rally world champion Sébastien Loeb announced via his Instagram account that he is breaking with his regular co-driver Daniel Elena. According to Loeb, this was done by mutual agreement, a video message from Elena shows that after a disastrous Dakar, Loeb was forced by his team to find someone else.
Loeb-Elena. It has to be the most famous binomial in rallying history. The Alsatian and the Monegask did not seem ready for each other, but at the end of the nineties they tried it together in a rally car. Less than fifteen years later, they had won nine world titles together.
Even when Loeb put regular rally driving on the back burner and focused more on the long-term work, the rally rides, Elena followed his companion. Their participation in the Dakar resulted in fourteen stage victories, twice they were on the podium.
BRX Prodrive did a lot to bring in the duo in 2020. For Loeb and Elena, their first Dakar participation for the British team, in January of this year, turned out to be a disaster. The car turned out to be a bitch, and Elena made quite a few navigational errors. A task turned out to be inevitable.
On Tuesday evening, Sébastien Loeb announced via his Instagram account that an end was being put behind the collaboration with Daniel Elena. “In mutual consultation and with a lot of heartache”, as it is so beautifully called.
It did not take long before Daniel ‘Danos’ Elena also gave his version of the facts. In three minutes, the Monegask razed the BRX Prodrive team to the ground and immediately stated that they were responsible for the break. Elena wished his companion Loeb the best of luck, but that did not happen with a smile.