Sébastien Loeb, a high-flying stage victory in Portugal: “It’s difficult to do much better”

When Sébastien Loeb (Dacia) decides to launch a major attack, and the effects are immediately felt. This Friday, September 26, around Badajoz (Spain), the Alsatian, navigated by Édouard Boulanger, won the third stage of the Rally-Raid Portugal, despite a puncture! 

This stage victory, the 22nd of his career in the World Championship rally-raid (W2RC), allows him to return to a good position for the fight for the podium. He is 5th, 11'18" behind the leader Lucas Moraes-Armand Monleon (Toyota) before the two final stages towards Lisbon.

Speaking to our microphone, Sébastien Loeb had the smile of a very good day. I tried to do my best, while staying on the road. I really tried to ride hard, almost to the maximum of my abilities! It was difficult to do much more.

It was a very tricky terrain today. It's very difficult to ride at that pace in a rally-raid without pace notes. (also precise. Ed.) like in a rally. The road book notes tell us where the crossroads and intersections are, but not where the corners are closing. Everything is done visually. I managed to have a great stage, with a consistent pace from start to finish. I had a puncture in the final section, but I still won.

Sébastien Loeb is not thinking about the final victory

This victory comes on the heels of a nightmare day for the Dacia team. Loeb and Boulanger lost nearly a quarter of an hour following a broken right rear wishbone, and Nasser Al-Attiyah and Fabian Lurquin got stuck in a rocky section, losing a similar amount of time.

“This scratch time is good for morale, confirms Sébastien Loeb. The team has been giving it their all from the start. What we were able to achieve in this rally-raid wasn't exceptional until today! Only Cristina (Gutiérrez, associated with Pablo Moreno) who is the only one who stays on the road all the time and who is able to save our ass as always", the Frenchman points out mischievously. Indeed, the Spanish crew had immediately repaired Loeb's mechanical problem during the second stage in order to lose as little time as possible.

As for his chances of final victory, Sébastien Loeb prefers to play it safe. "It's going to be complicated. We're 11 minutes behind the leaders. Although, we see that every day, adventures occur (on stage 3, Joao Ferreira lost many minutes even though he had won the previous stage. Editor's note). This rally-raid is not easy for anyone. Those who occupy the first two places (Friday) soir (Lucas Moraes and Henk Lategan) have made it through the trouble. There are two days left, we'll see!

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