Under pressure from Quintero, Loeb maintains control in Portugal: "The gap is very small"

Leading the overall standings since Thursday evening, Sébastien Loeb continues to dictate the pace at the Rally-Raid Portugal. Starting in the lead on this third stage, the Alsatian driver finished in second position behind his teammate Lucas Moraes.

Despite a high-performance machine and a solid pace, the nine-time world champion WRC He was penalized by a puncture at the end of the third stage in Badajoz (Spain). An incident with a familiar ring to it.

« It was a good day, we tried to push, but being first on the road didn't help. There weren't any lines, but the pace was decent. I got a flat tire near the end on the same rock as last year. I didn't see it last year and I didn't see it this year. Loeb laments. There, it was on a straight section, right in the middle of the road, and I got a puncture immediately. So I changed it on the same wheel as last year. We lost a few minutes there, but other than that it was a good stage. A bit difficult towards the end. »

The changing conditions also hampered the pilot. Some sections were very wet, others dry, then it started raining again."With a lead of only 1:27 over his closest pursuer, Seth Quintero, Sébastien Loeb is taking a more measured approach." I'm still in the lead, but the gap is very small because we saw today that Seth Quintero was very fast in the first part of the stage. nuance the Tricolore. So everything is possible, but we are in a good situation at the moment. "Behind the leading duo, Lucas Moraes is currently 1:34 behind the French leader.

On Saturday, the competitors will head south to Portugal for a 317km special stage linking Badajoz to Loulé (Portugal).

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