WRC Competitor Pierre-Louis Loubet to Make Rally Raid Debut in Africa Eco Race with Apache APH-01 Hybrid
Pierre-Louis Loubet, a seasoned World Rally Championship (WRC) competitor, is set to venture into the world of rally raid for the first time as he enters the Africa Eco Race. Loubet will pilot the innovative Apache APH-01 hybrid side-by-side vehicle, alongside co-driver François Borsotto, marking a new chapter in his racing career.
“This is a whole new experience for me, for the whole team,” exclaimed Loubet. “I’m super happy to be at the start of this project with lots of highly motivated people with lots of new ideas. The idea of a rally raid hybrid is going to be a whole new challenge. We have plenty of things to prove. We hope to have a great first event and that this will allow us to move forward together for a great adventure.”
Loubet’s WRC credentials are impressive, having won the 2019 WRC-2 championship with two wins. He has been competing sporadically in the premier WRC since 2015 and committed to a limited slate in the WRC in 2020 and 2021 with Hyundai before joining M-Sport Ford for the 2022 season onwards. In 2023, he ran nearly the entire Rally1 calendar for M-Sport, finishing twelfth in points with a best finish of sixth in Sweden and Estonia.
Although Loubet’s Africa Eco Race entry is not connected to M-Sport, the team has its own rally raid program, which will field the Ford Ranger at the 2024 Dakar Rally, set to begin a week after the Africa Eco Race. The Africa Eco Race follows the same route as the Dakar Rally during its original run from Europe to Senegal.
Borsotto, Loubet’s co-driver, is a Dakar Rally veteran, having most recently navigated the 2023 edition with Ludovic Gherardi in the MD Optimus, finishing twentieth in the T1 class. He won the 2019 Africa Eco Race in an Optimus piloted by Jean-Pierre Strugo.
Apache Automotive will also field an APH-01 for fellow rally raid newcomer Gautier Paulin, a five-time Motocross des Nations winner and longtime FIM Motocross World Championship rider. The APH-01 is a hybrid operating on both a Peugeot ICE and electric motor along with biofuels, making its competition debut at the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Bajas’ Baja Portalegre 500 in October.
The 2024 Africa Eco Race is set to begin in Monaco on 30 December 2023 and will run through 14 January, providing Loubet and Borsotto with a unique opportunity to test their skills in the world of rally raid. As the WRC 2024 calendar approaches, Loubet’s foray into rally raid is an exciting development, and fans will be eager to see how he fares in this new challenge.
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