FIA GT – Sébastien Loeb Racing blew hot and cold in Slovakia

For the first time since the inaugural round of Nogaro, the McLaren MP4-12C n°9 Sébastien Loeb and Alvaro Parente were able to find their way back to victory during the qualifying race this Sunday in Slovakia. A result all the more gratifying as the English GT started far away, from 8th place, after being downgraded from its 3rd position at the end of the superpole.

“Alvaro had an incredible start in the first race and that allowed him to return the car to me in second position”, commented the nine-time world rally champion afterwards, completely reinvigorated after two delicate meetings in Zolder, in Belgium, and Zandvoort, in the Netherlands. Once behind the wheel, the Alsatian would engage in a tug-of-war with Niki Mayr-Mehlnof, the Austrian from the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT. “I was able to quickly attack the Audi and take the lead. It?s good to win again, especially since we have lacked success since the start of the season,” he congratulated himself.

“The start could not be given”

The final race of this Slovak trip will, however, be like a cold shower for Sébastien Loeb Racing. The fault of a chaotic start. Then tasked with leading the pack from pole position, Sébastien Loeb was surprised by the stolen start of Stéphane Ortelli, who suffered a drive-through and collided with the No. 560 Lamborghini LP4-24 of the Kox-Rosina pair. . A slight touch which was enough to cause the abandonment of the No. 4 McLaren MP12-9C, and the dismay of Alvaro Parente: “I have the impression of reliving a déjà vu phenomenon... I am not going to repeat what I described in Zandvoort (where the Portuguese was also thrown out of the race, even though he started from pole, Editor's note) ! It's incredible... We are still in the top three in qualifying and in the race. This morning, we had a really good start and Sébastien finished the race in style. This victory in Race 1 and the pole with which it is synonymous is additional motivation for the second race. But we can't take advantage of it. In these conditions the start could not be given and it would have been necessary to repeat a formation lap. »