World RX – Loeb: “Reacting to competitors’ advances”

Fourth in his semi-final during the Trois-Rivières round in Canada, Sébastien Loeb was unable to reach the final of a World RX round for the fifth time this year, as he remained in a good second place in Sweden, on his team's home ground Peugeot -Hansen.

It was ultimately Timmy Hansen, drafted last minute for the Canadian final, who offered the first victory to the Franco-Swedish team in 2016, the first since Turkey last year. On a personal note, Sébastien Loeb, who is starting full-time in World RX this year, underlines the level of the field lined up this year on the world stage.

« The whole peloton is in the fight. I of course hoped to be on pace, even if we are still looking a little bit at the performance side of the 208. We have to react to advances made by competitors since last year, because they have really progressed. »

The former Citroën WTCC driver is also looking to win in rally-raid, the other facet of its program with Peugeot Sport. The Frenchman impressed for a long time a few weeks ago with the 2008 DKR16 on the roads of the Silk Way Rally before losing big in a penalty for missed crossing points.

Find the full report of the Trois-Rivières round in World RX and our question-and-answer with Sébastien Loeb, produced by our special correspondent in Canada, in issue 2075 of AUTOhebdo, available in digital version, and on newsstands.