Citroën gets off to a good start in Türkiye

Sébastien Loeb, who recently expressed his wish to see the shakedown of the events of the WRC transforming into qualifying to establish a starting order in the specials, won an honorary “pole” this Thursday. The Frenchman set the best time, taking advantage of a swept road during his fourth pass. But, despite this good time, there is no question of celebrating for the six-time World Champion.

« The shakedown was not very representative of the course », commented Sébastien Loeb. “ There are extremely fast stages, surely the fastest in the entire championship. But the surface is sometimes made of large crushed gravel, there is a risk of punctures or breakage. Bozhane (SS12 and 16) and Riva (SS13 and 17) are particularly rugged. »

Dani Sordo, second fastest in the shakedown, highlights the pleasure of taking part in this test session, on very fast roads. “ There was a passage in sixth form which gave a lot of pleasure. The car is perfect. » Optimistic before this event, the Spanish driver hopes to win the game. " We discovered the rally during the reconnaissance, I like him a lot. These are real special stages which will offer us great sensations. The roads are fast and narrow. My goal is to be at the finish and score as many points as possible. If we have fun, we should be able to achieve a good result. »

With rockier and less dusty roads, the Rally of Turkey should not make much room for sweeping, which had a very important role during the last event, in Jordan. For Sébastien Ogier, fifth in the shakedown, you will first have to know how to take care of your horse. “ It will be a big challenge for the cars on very rough stages », explained the Citroën Junior Team driver. “ You will have to be intelligent and even careful in the roughest parts because it would be surprising if the cars were able to maintain the maximum pace. There will undoubtedly be less tactics than in the last rally because the road should not evolve as much over the passages. We will try to fight to get on the podium in a rally that everyone is discovering. »