Mont-Blanc Rally – Stage 1, Sébastien Loeb’s good move

Sébastien Loeb retains his idol status. Applauded during his passage on the podium before joining the regrouping park at the end of the 6th special where the Alsatian had just signed his 2nd scratch time of the day (after that of SS4) at the wheel of theAlpine Ludovic Godard's A110 GT+ was also the one who set off the smoke bombs when he went through the La Vernaz hairpin earlier in the day.

« We have seen for some time that the Alpine are efficient, the Alsatian told us in Morzine. In the fast it is well balanced, in the hairpins we lose a little time. The compromise is not bad. The gaps are tight. I am good in the car, it works well. I was a little on the defensive at the start of the day. We got into the rhythm, then we attacked hard. There were already a few people this morning at 7am at the park. It's a beautiful rally It's a beautiful region, it obviously makes spectators want to come and watch it. Indeed, we are in the lead this morning, but by a  second, it's not much, we're going to have to attack today. The other competitors will try to do what they can too, we'll see at the end. It looks like it's going to be a close fight, we're 3-4 ahead and can fight for the victory. We're going to keep attacking. We'll see where it takes us. »

There were many who had eyes only for him. Too many in fact in the SS7, a 22,6 km section that was to be contested at night, a last special on the programme of the first stage this Friday evening, cancelled due to the excessive number of spectators.

In any case, thanks to his scratch in the Biot special which suited him so well, it is the one where he signed his first scratch in the French Rally Championship, the one also where he had achieved the best time when he came with the 306 Maxi, Loeb installed himself by a short head as leader of the event alpine ahead of Gardois Léo Rossel (1”1), the first leader (winner of SS1, 3, 5). Tomorrow (Saturday. Ed.), I will have nice tracks with Seb in front, admitted the Citroën driver. Since the beginning of the year, I was doing well in tricky conditions, now I'm doing well in the dry. It's going to be hard to fight with Seb (Loeb). His car here is more efficient than ours, we're going to do our race. We're going to try to keep as much as possibleAlpine behind us and to have fun like yesterday and we will see"

Quentin Gilbert is the 3rd man to have set a best time, but it is the returning Yoann Bonato who is on the podium at the end of the day, 6" behind Loeb. Very close times which augur a great 2nd stage this Saturday. " I feel that I am very tired tonight, Bonato confessed about his physical worries linked to a huge crash at the Rallye des Vosges, but in the special there is nothing penalizing. We are very happy to be here. We will try to refine the set-up of the car a little."

Cédric Robert is the leader of the 2RM classification, Clairay is in the lead of the Trophy Alpine Elf Rallye and Barnouin in front in Clio Trophy France.

READ ALSO : Mont-Blanc Morzine ES6: Sebastien Loeb leader of the general classification!