Sébastien Loeb: “It’s going to be very hard for the cars”

How did your recce go?
It really wasn't easy. I found it very long and we finished badly since we got bogged down in the last special stage that we completed. We had to call a 4x4 to be able to continue... It's practically impossible to note all the difficulties we encountered. We had to resort to annotations that we don't use anywhere else like "gently", "brittle 1", "brittle 2", "walk uphill"...

Are you disappointed with what you discovered? Is it very far from what you expected?
The other drivers all say that it is much more destroyed than in 2021 and I can only confirm that it seems very damaged to me. However, we will have to make do.

Does this mean that you will have to adopt a specific rhythm?
You will actually have to find the right tempo. There are places where we will be forced to manage. With the reconnaissance cars, even when driving at 30 km/h it has already broken everything! I think a Rally1 will be stronger than what we used for two days. However, this is a completely new generation of Rally1 on which we don't have much perspective, so let's wait and see. THE WRC, it is not rally raid, the drivers are moving at a great pace and we may have to accept not to follow them by telling ourselves that it will not go to the end.

Safari Rally Kenya 2022, Photo Nikos Katikis / DPPI

Can patience be the best strategy?
Losing time is not always easy to cope with. When you see others widening gaps, you are inevitably tempted to add a little more. Things always go very quickly in the WRC. It's not the same management as in rally raids, where you can afford to insure things.

How did it feel to return to Kenya 20 years after your first and only participation in the Safari?
It hasn't changed much. It’s still very nice and the change of scenery is still great.

Cars have evolved a lot during this period. How does the Puma behave on very poor roads?
I hope it will have fewer shock absorber problems than the Xsara of the time. I think we were performing well, because we were higher than the others, but our shock absorbers were not durable. I have the impression that this year it will be very hard for the cars.