Loeb satisfied after a first day that was "not so simple" in Portugal

The nine-time World Rally Champion is currently on the provisional podium at the Rally-Raid Portugal, following the first day of competition in the second round of the W2RC, the World Rally-Raid Championship. The Dacia driver was overtaken by two Toyota on the first stage, a 180km timed section divided into two special stages. But with only a 28-second lead, Sébastien Loeb and Édouard Boulanger started this second round of the championship very well, despite weather that made the tracks particularly treacherous.

"Overall, it was a good day for us. The stages were quite tricky, with a lot of mud and many changes in grip. It wasn't so easy to manage and not so simple to stay on the track; we saw quite a few cars making mistakes. We had a good day, we finished third, so that's good. I wanted to finish the first day and I did it."

Meanwhile, world championship leader Nasser Al-Attiyah (winner of the Dakar Rally in January) had a tougher first day, having been the first to open the road. The Qatari driver, partnered with Fabien Lurquin, received a one-minute penalty for exceeding the speed limit in a section of the special stage, and he is now more than three minutes behind in the overall standings. With the next four stages being considerably longer than this initial stretch, Al-Attiyah remains calm and collected, as is his wont.

“Today wasn’t easy; we opened the track, and we knew we were going to lose time. In the end, we didn’t lose that much, except for one mistake that gave us a one-minute penalty. That could give us a good track position for tomorrow. We drove intelligently on Wednesday, without any mistakes. There was a lot of rain, and we’ll try to do our best on the second stage.”

The second stage, 548 kilometers long, including 377 timed stages, will link Grândola to Bandajoz this Thursday, and should offer more precise initial insights.

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