A blow has been dealt to Sebastien Loeb's championship hopes in the form of the Francois Duval being unable to start Rally Ireland later this month.

Duval who has been competing under the banner of the OMV Kronos Rally Team has found out that they will be unable to supply a car to him for either of the last two rounds.

Duval who has started three of this years events has played a key part in Citroen plans to deprive Marcus Gronholm of valuable world championship points. In Germany this year Duval pulled this off but had a lesser effect during the Corsica and Spain events.

Instead Duval will compete this weekend in his home country on the Condroz Rally, where he makes his debut at the wheel of a Fiat Grande Punto S2000 car.