Third, Loeb had fun on the Rally-Raid Portugal

Fourth in the day's special, won by the Portuguese Ferreira, Sébastien Loeb therefore retained his place on the podium in this penultimate round of the World Rally Raid Championship (W2RC) until the end. The Alsatian had fun all week in Portugal, as he explained to our microphone, just after the arrival of the last timed section, which allowed him to finish as the best representative of the Dacia Sandriders clan.

“It was a great special, today there wasn’t much to play for! We were ten minutes behind the car in front and probably about the same gap to our pursuers. We didn’t take any big risks, we had fun, we enjoyed the specials. They are great specials, technical, distinctive WRC, with sliding, braking, it was really great fun.

While Nasser Al-Attiyah had already been able to take part in a rally-raid with his new co-driver Fabian Lurquin, it was the first opportunity for the Loeb/Boulanger duo to test themselves in competition. On fast and technical special stages, the two men were able to perfect their osmosis without having to lose too much time in navigation, which will be a more important point at the Rally of Morocco in mid-October, then at the Dakar next January.

"It was good to do a rally like this with pace notes coming one after the other, without there being too complicated navigation, but with sequences so that we could both get into sync. It went very well this week, it's encouraging for the future!"

Interview by Medhi Casaurang-Vergez, in Portugal.

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