Freddy Loix

**Freddy Loix**
Nation:	Belgium
World Rally Championship (WRC)
First rally:	San Remo Rally 1993
Last rally:	Rally Catalonia 2004
Co-driver:	Sven Smeets
Team:	Toyota , Mitsubishi , Hyundai , Peugeot
Vehicle:	Peugeot 307 WRC
Points:	88
Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC)
First rally:	Belgium Ypres Rally 2006
Co-driver:	Frédéric Miclotte
Team:	BFO-Škoda Rally Team
Vehicle:	Škoda Fabia S2000
Points:	235
	Status: After rally 10 of 11, 2011 season

Freddy Loix (born November 10, 1970 in Tongeren ) is a Belgian rally driver . His nickname is "Fast Freddy"

Career

Beginnings

Freddy Loix began his racing career in karting . However, he did not continue his career on the racetrack, but bought an old Lancia Delta HF Turbo from Group N in 1990 and drove it into rallies. The following year he received a Mitsubishi Galant VR-4 , with which he has since competed in the Belgian rally championship .

First successes with Opel and Toyota

1993 Loix factory rider in the team of Belgian Opel -Importeurs, the one his Opel Astra GSi of Formula 2 set available. It has also now been sponsored by Marlboro . At the end of the year he made his debut in the World Rally Championship at the San Remo Rally . With the ninth place overall, he immediately scored his first two world championship points. In 1994 he became Belgian Formula 2 champion.

The next step in his career was followed in 1996 when the Belgian Loix Toyota team a Toyota Celica GT-Four of Group A received. He took part in three rallies in the world championship and came fourth twice. With this he finished eighth in the drivers' championship at the end of the season. In the 1997 season he achieved his first podium result with second place at the Rally Portugal and finished ninth in the championship. At the San Remo Rally at the end of the year he raced the new Toyota Corolla WRC for the first time , with which he now regularly contested rallies in the 1998 season. With a third place in the Rally Portugal and second place in the Rally Catalonia , he started the season in the World Rally Championship very successfully. Although he had only started four runs, he again reached eighth place in the ranking of the world championship.

Establishment in the World Rally Championship at Mitsubishi

Freddy Loix in the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI at the 2001 Rally Finland

For the 1999 season Loix switched to the Mitsubishi factory team, which used the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI . which was still based on the Group A regulations. There he now completed his first full season in the World Rally Championship. However, the switch did not go completely smoothly. While his teammate Tommi Mäkinen became world champion, Loix never reached the podium. Nevertheless, with four fourth places, mainly in the second half of the season, he just barely missed it. As in the previous year, he finished the season on the eighth championship place. In addition, Loix also contested the European Championship Ypres rally in Belgium, which he won for the fourth time in a row.

In 2000 the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI had already had its best times and was only able to compete with the newer vehicles of the competing teams to a limited extent. This reduced the chances of good placements for Loix. By the end of the season he had just collected four points, placing him 15th in the championship. In 2001 Loix was still unable to compete for top positions, but scored points again on a regular basis. From the last third of the season, Mitsubishi launched a new development with the Lancer WRC, but this turned out to be even less competitive than the previous model. With nine points, he finished 13th in the ranking at the end of the season.

Low point at Hyundai and guest starts with Peugeot

In early 2002, Loix signed a two-year deal with Hyundai . With the inferior Hyundai Accent WRC , however, another difficult season developed. A sixth place at the New Zealand Rally towards the end of the year was his only result of points. With just one point, he finished 19th in the drivers' championship. Due to the low budget of his team, the vehicle could not be significantly further developed and so the poor results continued into the 2003 season. After the introduction of the new points system, Loix achieved eighth place in the Rally Australia to win points again. However, this rally was the last that he completed with the Hyundai, as the team withdrew prematurely from the world championship in September.

Freddy Loix in the Peugeot 307 WRC at the 2004 Monte Carlo Rally

After Loix had paused at three rallies, he received at Peugeot for the Rally GB a cockpit in a Peugeot 206 WRC . At the rally he achieved his best result in a year in sixth place and scored another three points. So he improved to the 14th championship place. Peugeot stuck to Loix at the beginning of the 2004 season and it has now received a new Peugeot 307 WRC . He started the season successfully again with a fifth place in the Monte Carlo Rally , but was still replaced after the second rally. Only later in the season he came to three more missions. As he took points with all the finishers, he finished the season in tenth place in the drivers' standings despite only taking part in five rallies. It was his best ranking in five years. After the 2004 season Loix resigned from the World Rally Championship.

Intercontinental Rally Challenge

Immediately after his time in the World Rally Championship, Loix initially disappeared from the international scene. His only appearances were now with weaker Super 1600 vehicles in smaller rallies, but also in the Dakar Rally . From 2007 he was regularly involved in the newly founded Intercontinental Rally Challenge . After starting the Ypres rally in a VW Polo S2000 , he started driving a private Fiat Abarth Grande Punto S2000 in the second half of the season . He finished the Rallye International du Valais in fourth place, scoring five points.

Freddy Loix in the Škoda Fabia S2000 at the Ypres Rally 2010

For the 2008 season Loix received a cockpit for the entire season in a Peugeot 207 S2000 from the Belgian team Kronos Racing . There he was finally able to build on his old successes and scored three victories during the season at the Ypres Rally, the Barum Czech Rally Zlín and the Rallye International du Valais. He finished this as a driver with the most wins in second place overall behind his team-mate Nicolas Vouilloz . In 2009 he competed for Kronos Racing again. He started the season successfully with second place in the Monte Carlo Rally, followed by a further podium finish in the Ypres rally. Although he didn't win, he finished third in the drivers' championship.

In 2010 Loix became a works driver at Škoda and has been competing in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge with a Škoda Fabia S2000 ever since . He won three of four rallies completed in the 2010 season, the Ypres rally for the sixth time, the Rali Vinho da Madeira and the Barum Czech Rally Zlín. These successes reached fourth place in the overall ranking. At the start of the following season, the 2011 Monte Carlo Rally , he finished second. After winning the Geko Ypres Rally 2011 , Loix took the lead in the championship. After the Sata Rallye Açores 2011 , in which he had not participated, he lost the lead again. His current co-driver is Frédéric Miclotte .

statistics

WRC results

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

IRC results

season	team	vehicle	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	Points	Item
2006	Duindisteel	Citroën C2 S1600	RSA	YPR 4	MAD	SAN									5	13
2007	Belgian VW Club	VW Polo S2000	SAF	DOOR	YPR DNF										5	16
2007	Freddy Loix	Fiat Abarth Grande Punto S2000				RUS	MAD DNF	ZLI DNF	SAN 9	VAL 4	CHN				5	16
2008	Peugeot Team Benelux	Peugeot 207 S2000	IS 8	POR DNF	YPR 1	RUS 4	MAD 6	ZLI 1	AST 3	SAN 5	VAL 1	CHN			48	2
2009	Peugeot Team Benelux	Peugeot 207 S2000	MON 2	CUR 4	SAF	AZO 4	YPR 3	RUS	MAD 6	ZLI DNF	AST 4	SAN 4	SCO		37	3
2010	Škoda Motorsport	Škoda Fabia S2000	MON	CUR	ARG	CAN	SAR	YPR 1	AZO	MAD 1	ZLI 1	SAN 3	SCO	CYP	36	4th
2011	Škoda Motorsport	Škoda Fabia S2000	MON 2												103	6th
2011	BFO-Škoda Rally Team	Škoda Fabia S2000		CAN 4	COR 3	YAL	YPR 1	AZO	ZLI 2	MEC 3	SAN DNF	SCO	CYP		103	6th

↑ Freddy Loix scored a total of 49 points in the 2008 IRC. However, as only the seven best results are taken into account for the overall ranking due to the regulations, only 48 points were included in the ranking.

Web links

Commons : Freddy Loix - collection of images, videos and audio files

personal data
SURNAME	Loix, Freddy
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Belgian rally driver
DATE OF BIRTH	November 10, 1970
PLACE OF BIRTH	Tongeren

[1] Freddy Loix scored a total of 49 points in the 2008 IRC. However, as only the seven best results are taken into account for the overall ranking due to the regulations, only 48 points were included in the ranking.