Sébastien Loeb admits to “a rally-raid reflex”

History seemed to be in progress. Passed at the head of Rally of Mexico in his fight with Dani Sordo (Hyundai), Sébastien Loeb (Citroen) had struck a major blow on the slopes of Central America.

By benefiting from a favorable road position, the nine-time world champion had shown himself to his advantage until a puncture doesn't hurt him lose more than two minutes in SS14.

A mishap also encountered by his rival Dani Sordo, but where the Spaniard preferred to continue without changing wheels, the Frenchman chose another strategy, resulting from these recent outings with the Peugeo and 3008 DKR at the Dakar.

“There were two turns that followed each other with stones on the inside, but we passed over them a little, and one of them was fatal for us, describes, fatalistic, Loeb. We made the mistake of stopping to change the wheel, because I didn't know these tires well, and we had the wrong reflex, that of rally raid In fact !

We would have lost significantly less time otherwise, but that's how it is. We will now try to reach the finish while having as much fun as possible behind the wheel. »

The Citroën driver, however, admits to being satisfied with his performances displayed until this puncture. “This morning, it was really nice to be able to confirm our performance yesterday and find myself in the lead six years after my last rally in Mexico.

To tell the truth, I wasn't expecting as much before the start and that reassured me about my qualities as a pilot! It was going to be a big fight until this puncture. »

The Rally Mexico will resume this Sunday for the final stage from 15:18 p.m. and will be followed live on our website with our live text.