M-Sport driver Pierre-Louis Loubet ends cooperation with co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul two rallies before the end of the season: who could take his place?
With just over two weeks to go until Rally Central Europe, the penultimate round of the 2023 World Rally Championship (WRC), M-Sport driver Pierre-Louis Loubet has prematurely ended his collaboration with his current co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul. The Frenchman made the announcement on his social media channels on Friday.
“We parted ways earlier than planned, although we were both determined to make our collaboration a success,” Loubet wrote. “The experience you gave me in my first full WRC season will be invaluable in the years to come. I wish you all the best for the future, Nicolas Gilsoul.”
Gilsoul, who was Hyundai driver Thierry Neuvielle’s long-time co-driver until the end of 2021, had taken the seat next to Loubet at the start of the 2023 WRC season after the latter’s previous co-driver Vincent Landais moved to Toyota driver Sebastien Ogier.
Loubet did not give any reasons for the premature separation from Gilsoul. However, it could be related to a serious accident of the duo at the Rally Chile. On Friday, Loubet had crashed heavily while in a promising fourth position and had rolled over several times. A misunderstanding with co-driver Gilsoul had led to the accident, the Frenchman said afterwards.
Loubet did not yet say who his co-driver will be at the Rally Central Europe (26 to 29 October). According to Autosport, it will probably be Benjamin Veillas, who won five WRC rounds alongside Ogier in 2022.
Alongside Loubet and team leader Ott Tänak, Gergoire Munster will once again drive a third M-Sport Ford Puma Hybrid in the Central Europe Rally. The young Luxembourger made his debut in the Rally1 car at the Rally Chile and will now make his second appearance in the premier class with the support of Belgian gentleman driver Jourdan Serderidis.
“We haven’t tested the car on asphalt yet, so it’s hard to say what we can expect or how the car will behave,” Munster told WRC.com. “I think we’ll just have to test and see how it goes.”
However, the Luxembourger believes he will do well on the roads in Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic. “We’ve done a lot of driving in Germany and we did the January Rally in Austria and the Barum Rally in the Czech Republic. I think we will feel more comfortable on asphalt, but now it also depends on how the car behaves. “
