WRC – Loeb: “We were aggressive, we had to be”

The return of Sébastien Loeb au Rally Monte Carlo helped prove that the nine-time world champion WRC had lost none of his speed. The driver of the #3 DS4 WRC was even still in the lead at midday by having a lead of three seconds over Sébastien Ogier (Volkswagen). But the Alsatian seemed a little more in difficulty in the second pass where he tried the gamble of not using studded tires.

Sébastien Loeb found himself eight seconds behind his former teammate and flirted with the limits to stay in contact with the no.1 Polo R WRC. A trip off the road and a torn off wheel put an end to his hopes of securing an eighth victory in Monte-Carlo during the 83rd edition. The Alsatian should return to Rally2 since he is not able to return to the Gap service park (Hautes-Alpes) given the damage. “Stop on the connection between the end of the special and the park. The team is coming to pick us up. We were aggressive, we had to be. I hit a small rock, not very hard but it broke. We were good in SS6, still difficult afterwards given the state of the road”, he commented, comments repeated on his Twitter account.

Sébastien Loeb's delay will drop to ten minutes since he will start in Rally2. But the seven-time winner of the Monte-Carlo Rally would find himself at the front to open the road in the third stage which will begin tomorrow from 9:16 a.m.

The videos of the Monte-Carlo Rally can be consulted here.