World RX – Loeb: the rain reminded me of the rally

Sébastien Loeb celebrated its first victory in World RX in Bikernieki (Latvia) where the World RX Championship Rallycross was visiting for the first time. Despite a contact caused by his teammate Timmy Hansen in the third qualifying heat, the Alsatian managed to win his semi-final before winning in the final ahead of Championship leader Mattias Ekström and the Swede from Team Hansen.

“It’s a great weekend even if we had some difficult times at times, commented the nine-time champion of WRC. We actually collided with Timmy in Q3 but the burst of speed we had since Barcelona (Spain) allowed us to fight for victory. »

"Today's rain reminded me of when I run rally on wet asphalt. I felt the movement of the tires and I had a very good feeling with the car. I am very happy for my chief mechanic, who lives in Latvia, and for the whole team who have worked hard since the start of the season”, added Sébastien Loeb.

The team Peugeot -Hansen came back to eight points behind EKS in the Teams' Championship with Timmy Hansen's third place, the Peugeot drivers having benefited from the good performance of the 208 WRX in the rain.

“It was a really very eventful weekend which ended perfectly with Sébastien’s first victory. It really was his day. I am very proud of him. The Peugeot 208 WRX was fast all weekend, both in the dry on a very technical circuit and also in the wet. The conditions were extremely difficult. We can be proud of the work accomplished”, added the winner of the Trois-Rivières round.

World RX results in Bikernieki

Discover the report of the World RX in Bikernieki in issue 2083 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and from Wednesday on newsstands.