When Pierre-Louis Loubet plays the big arm

Georgina a été la première à l’accueillir quand il est parvenu à s’extraire de la voiture juste avant de la garer dans le parc de regroupement. Immédiatement, l’ostéopathe, ou physio comme ils disent chez M-Sport, a prononcé le mot magique, « massage » accompanied by details such as “ ice packs », everything that the Corsican had undoubtedly aspired to for several kilometers.

Smiling, but with a marked face, the latter complied with media obligations. He then recounted how the events unfolded. “ We still have to look at what happened, he explained cautiously. I don't know if we broke the DA in my mistake or if it happened before and when I wanted to turn the car didn't respond. The result was the same! We found ourselves with a car that was very complicated to drive in such conditions. »

Arriving at the Puget-Théniers tire changing area, Pierre-Louis and Nicolas Gilsoul tried to find a solution to repair their steering, but without a part, it was impossible to restore the Puma. The crew could decide to abandon and receive the 10 minutes penalty per special provided by the regulations or try to go to the end despite the physical challenge that this represented. There were in fact 3 SS to go, a little over 52 timed km and over 200 km of liaison, all with a car as maneuverable as a breeze block on roads where tight bends and hairpins were legion.

The Rally1 anvil that Pierre-Louis Loubet and Nicolas Gilsoul managed to bring back to Monaco after a great game of bodybuilding (Photo Nikos Katikis / DPPI)

“I had the impression that someone purposely put all these turns just for us to pass,” Pierre-Louis smiled shyly. In the middle one (SS7), it was never ending. Nicolas (Gilsoul, his co-driver, Editor’s note) took care of the handbrake. When I gave him the “top” he would pull the stick to rotate the car into the hairpins. Despite everything, it was complicated to catch the car's slip, because it was extremely heavy. In order to try to make it more mobile, we fitted snow tires. It was probably a little easier, but towards the end my arms were so numb that I couldn't turn the steering wheel. I am still very happy to have maintained my physical condition well during the winter. Without it, I wonder if I would have succeeded. Now, when I look at our ranking, I don't know if continuing was the best solution. »

Having made a good start to the race with times close to those ofOtt Tänak, the Franco-Belgian crew was relegated Friday evening to 29^e place 11min33s behind the leader. “ I was surprised to see that they wanted to finish the stage, said M-Sport team manager Richard Millener. We need to analyze what happened. I take my hat off to him, because a Rally1 without DA is extremely difficult to drive. » Although exhausted, the author of the strong image of this stage still found a way to joke. “I didn’t want to give Nicolas the wheel on the routes… I don’t yet have enough confidence in him for that (smile). We will see tomorrow in what state I will be to resume the race. » Six special stages and 111,78 km timed await the crews during the day on Saturday. No doubt stiff, Pierre-Louis Loubet will be the second to set off on the road.