Freddy Loix

Freddy Loix
Personal information
Nationality Belgian
Born 10 November 1970 (1970-11-10) (age 41)
World Rally Championship record
Active years 1993 - present
Teams Toyota, Mitsubishi, Hyundai, Peugeot
Rallies 86
Championships 0
Rally wins 0
Podiums 3
Stage wins 34
Total points 88

Freddy Loix (born 10 November 1970 in Tongeren, Belgium) is a Belgian rally driver.

Loix's career in motor sport began in karting at the age of 15. In 1990, he bought his first rally car, a Lancia Delta group N, though he soon progressed to a Mitsubishi Galant Group N.

1993 saw a big step forward in Loix's career as he became part of the Marlboro World Championship Team driving an Opel Astra and he became the Belgian F2-champion.

Nicknamed Fast Freddy by his fans, he made the switch to four wheel drive in 1996 with a Toyota Celica GT-Four and completed 3 WRC events and a further 6 in 1997. This period saw continuing sponsorship with Marlboro and a switch to the new Toyota Corolla WRC. He took the lead in the 1997 Sanremo Rally but mechanical problems brought an end to his charge for victory.

Loix and his co-driver, Sven Smeets, moved to Mitsubishi in 1999 and campaigned a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI (which was badged as a Carisma GT). His first year with Mitsubishi proved to be a difficult one with Loix being injured in a horrific accident during the Safari Rally. Despite the setback, Loix fought back and achieved 4 fourth places (in Spain, Greece, Sanremo and Australia).

In 2001, and after several successful seasons, the Mitsubishi Lancer, being a Group A car, found itself outdated and incapable of competing on the same level as the new WRC cars that the other teams were running.

Loix signed a two-year contract with Hyundai at the start of 2002. This was a difficult season in the Hyundai Accent WRC and his best result was 6th place on the Rally Australia. Due to funding cutbacks in 2003, the team couldn't develop the car further and Hyundai retired from the WRC following 2003's Rally Australia.

A drive for Peugeot in the last rally of the 2003 calendar, the RAC Rally in Great Britain,not only saw him replace the by then ailing 2001 World Rally Champion Richard Burns, it also saw him finish in 6th place overall in that year's rally. In the 2004 season, Loix completed only 5 WRC events, all for the private Marlboro team and in a Peugeot 307 WRC before retiring from the World rally Championship later that season after the 2004 Rally Catalunya.[1] Since 2007 Loix has been competing in the FIA Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) with Peugeot Sport Belgium, driving a Peugeot 207 S2000. Loix is currently the most successful driver in IRC with a total of seven wins, including a hat trick in 2010.[2][3]

Contents

Results

WRC results

Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 WDC Points
1993 Opel Team Belgium Opel Astra MON SWE POR KEN FRA GRC ARG NZL FIN AUS ITA
9		 ESP GBR 55th 2
1994 Opel Team Belgium Opel Astra MON POR KEN FRA GRC ARG NZL FIN
21		 ITA
24		 GBR - 0
1995 Opel Team Belgium Opel Astra MON SWE POR
Ret		 FRA
14		 NZL AUS ESP GBR - 0
1996 Toyota Castrol Team Toyota Celica GT-Four ST205 SWE KEN IDN GRE
7		 ARG FIN AUS ITA
4		 ESP
4		 8th 24
1997 Toyota Castrol Team Toyota Celica GT-Four ST205 MON
16		 SWE KEN POR
2		 ESP FRA ARG GRE
Ret		 NZL FIN
37		 IDN AUS
7		 GBR 9th 8
Toyota Corolla WRC ITA
5
1998 Toyota Castrol Team Toyota Corolla WRC MON SWE KEN POR
3		 ESP
2		 FRA ARG GRC
5		 NZL FIN ITA AUS
6		 GBR 8th 13
1999 Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart Mitsubishi Lancer Evo MON
Ret		 SWE
9		 KEN
Ret		 POR ESP
4		 FRA
8		 ARG
Ret		 GRE
4		 NZL
8		 FIN
10		 CHN
Ret		 ITA
4		 AUS
4		 GBR
5		 8th 14
2000 Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart Mitsubishi Lancer Evo MON
6		 SWE
8		 KEN
Ret		 POR
6		 ESP
8		 ARG
5		 GRE
Ret		 NZL
Ret		 FIN
Ret		 CYP
8		 FRA
Ret		 ITA
8		 AUS
Ret		 GBR
Ret		 15th 4
2001 Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart Mitsubishi Lancer Evo MON
6		 SWE
13		 POR
Ret		 ESP
4		 ARG
6		 CYP
5		 GRC
9		 KEN
5		 FIN
10		 NZL
11		 ITA
12		 FRA
12		 AUS
11		 GBR
Ret		 13th 9
2002 Hyundai Castrol WRT Hyundai Accent WRC MON
Ret		 SWE
Ret		 FRA
9		 ESP
10		 CYP
Ret		 ARG
Ret		 GRC
Ret		 KEN
Ret		 FIN
9		 GER
Ret		 ITA
28		 NZL
6		 AUS
Ret		 GBR
8		 19th 1
2003 Hyundai Castrol WRT Hyundai Accent WRC MON
Ret		 SWE
10		 TUR
10		 NZL
Ret		 ARG
Ret		 GRE
Ret		 CYP
Ret		 GER
11		 FIN
10		 AUS
8		 ITA FRA ESP 14th 4
Marlboro Peugeot Total Peugeot 206 WRC GBR
6
2004 Marlboro Peugeot Total Peugeot 307 WRC MON
5		 SWE
Ret		 MEX NZL CYP GRC TUR ARG FIN GER
6		 JPN GBR ITA FRA
7		 ESP
Ret		 AUS 10th 9

IRC results

Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 WDC Points
2006 Duindisteel Citroen C2 S1600 RSA YPR
4		 MAD ITA 13th 5
2007 Belgian VW club VW Polo S2000 SAF TUR YPR
Ret		 16th 5
Freddy Loix Fiat Abarth Grande Punto S2000 RUS MAD
Ret		 ZLI
Ret		 SAN
11		 VAL
4		 CHN
2008 Peugeot Team Benelux Peugeot 207 S2000 IST
8		 POR
Ret		 YPR
1		 RUS
4		 MAD
6		 ZLI
1		 AST
3		 SAN
5		 VAL
1		 CHN 2nd 48
2009 Peugeot Team Benelux Peugeot 207 S2000 MON
2		 CUR
4		 SAF AZO
4		 YPR
3		 RUS MAD
6		 ZLI
Ret		 AST
6		 ITA
4		 SCO 3rd 37
2010 Škoda Motorsport Škoda Fabia S2000 MON CUR ARG CAN SAR YPR
1		 AZO MAD
1		 ZLI
1		 SAN
3		 SCO CYP
 4th 36
2011 Škoda Motorsport Škoda Fabia S2000 MON
2		 CAN
4		 COR
3		 YAL YPR
1		 AZO ZLI
2		 MEC
3		 SAN
Ret		 SCO CYP
5		 4th 123

References

  1. ^ http://www.rallybase.nl/index.php?type=profile&driverid=10
  2. ^ "IRC glory in Madeira for Loix". ircseries.com (Intercontinental Rally Challenge). 7 August 2010. http://www.rally-irc.com/html/readnews.asp?id=2050. Retrieved 29 August 2010. 
  3. ^ "After SS17: Dramatic third IRC win for Loix". ircseries.com (Intercontinental Rally Challenge). 29 August 2010. http://www.ircseries.com/html/readnews.asp?id=2112. Retrieved 29 August 2010. 

External links