With Dacia’s impending demise at the end of the 2026 World Rally-Raid Championship, Sébastien Loeb is looking for a new ride for the 2027 season. Speaking with French media, he’s mentioned that although he has been in touch with Toyota, it is still far too early for his conversations to mean anything.

Loeb is a Prodrive rally raid loyalist, having raced their Hunter from 2021 to 2024 before joining new technical partner Dacia in 2025. He finished fourth in the 2025 W2RC standings, capping off the year by winning the Rallye du Maroc for his first W2RC victory since 2022.

His 2026 campaign began with a fourth at the Dakar Rally, narrowly missing the podium after a dogfight between Dacia and Ford. While Dacia won the race with Nasser Al-Attiyah, Renault Group announced earlier in February that the rally raid program will shut down after 2026 due to financial struggles at the parent company. Loeb and Al-Attiyah, as well as their teammates Lucas Moraes and Cristina Gutiérrez, will finish out the season before heading their separate ways.

The most obvious option for Loeb would be Ford. After all, he is familiar with M-Sport after racing for them in the World Rally Championship, including winning the 2022 Rallye Monte-Carlo together. On the other hand, Ford already has a loaded roster and plans to sign former Dakar bike winner Matthias Walkner to drive the Raptor if Carlos Sainz leaves.

Loeb mentioned he’s also talked with Jean-Marc Fortin, the team principal at Toyota Gazoo Racing’s partner Overdrive Racing. Toyota is coming off a difficult Dakar, but has been frank about 2026 being a learning year for their new Hilux. Overdrive also recently hired Yves Matton, who was Loeb’s boss at Citroën during his final years in the WRC, as team manager.

“I don’t have any guarantees because there aren’t 12 manufacturers entered in the Dakar,” said Loeb. “If no one wants me, we’ll have to see what we do.

“I know Malcolm (Wilson from M-Sport) well, and have already been in contact with Fortin, but we haven’t gone very far in the discussions yet.”

Meanwhile, Al-Attiyah is racing bajas for MD Rallye Sport, though it’s unlikely he will commit to them for the W2RC since they build T1.2 cars rather than T1+.

Featured image credit: Kin Marcin / Red Bull Content Pool