Loeb discusses Hyundai's strategy in Portugal

Sébastien Loeb est revenu sur la stratégie de Hyundai au Rally of Portugal played a week earlier. The nine-time champion WRC had started at a good pace before seeing its weekend destroyed by a fuel pressure problem. With his teammate Dani Sordo suffering from the same illness, the Frenchman and the Spaniard were instructed to leave late so as not to sweep the road for Sébastien Ogier (Citroën), opponent of Thierry Neuville in the title race.

“I don’t like it to be honest. I don't like it because I think there would be a way to avoid them or at least make them less common. I don't like it either because I find myself "getting involved" in the fight for the Drivers' championship even though I'm not playing anything personally and I absolutely didn't come for that. And I can understand that this could annoy Seb Ogier or the others,” admitted the Alsatian.

“However, everyone does it. This is allowed by the regulations and any driver or team has done it, is doing it and will do it as soon as they deem it necessary. So why not me ? We must not forget that Hyundai hired me to help them win the title from the manufacturers and when they ask me to do something authorized by the regulations to help them or a teammate, I have to do it. TO DO. They are my bosses. Now, the FIA ​​certainly has a role to play in changing this, and avoiding unnecessary controversies for the image of our sport. »

Sébastien Loeb had a frustrating weekend in Portugal, having no more hope after his mechanical problem which occurred in the 3rd special.

“Even though we only did two stages before our breakdown, it’s true that I was a little less comfortable with the car compared to Chile. The decision to do the rally was taken late and we had to run with the 'differential' set-up validated by Andreas in tests. Thierry also had the same as us, unlike Dani. It seems that this option still needs to be refined but I think we are in the right direction. We all know the gap there is between the Yaris WRC and the i20 Coupe WRC today, and the team is working hard to close it and deserves credit for trying things. »

“That said, even though we weren't very comfortable with the car, after two stages we were tied with Thierry and when you see the great race he did, there was room for get a good result I think. Unfortunately, we encountered this problem from the start of SS3 which caused us to lose more than 15 minutes. From there, the rally becomes completely different and the only thing to do is reach the finish to score a few points for Hyundai Motorsport. »

Sébastien Loeb even admitted that he would have preferred to give up at the end of the first stage, as the lack of challenges prevented him from having a good pace.

“In the past, I would have tended to stop. And there, if I wasn't going to play a role in the constructors' championship, I would certainly have done the same. Not for lack of motivation because we are totally aware with Danos (Daniel Elena) that we are privileged to drive with these cars on such events. But only because I have never managed, in my entire career, to ride when we were no longer in the match. It was the same thing when it was decided early in the race back then and after one or two stages I already had a big lead. I was still saying to myself on the third day: “Luckily we are so far ahead because I would never have managed to do their times today! ". It's just that I can't take the same risks when there's no longer anything at stake... And that was the case this weekend. At each stage, I wondered where they went to achieve these times, whereas two weeks ago, we were playing with them in Chile. »

Sébastien Loeb also had a thought for his former mentor Jean-Pierre Champeau died last Saturday.