Loebswotsupaheadofhiswrccomeback
In case you’ve been residing on another planet, you can’t have failed to notice Sebastien Loeb returns to the World Rally Championship in Mexico this week.
The Frenchman starts the first of his three-round programme in Leon (Corsica and Catalunya will follow), but he has been careful not to make any predictions of a potential seventh successive victory at Rally Mexico. The focus for the nine-time champion will be on enjoying his time in the sister C3 WRC to that of last year’s winner Kris Meeke.
“I hope to be more or less on the pace,” said Loeb. “I have no idea where I stand in relation to the other drivers, so I can’t wait to get started. You have to bear in mind that this is still the world championship – the other drivers haven’t stood still over the last few years.”
Last week’s MN revealed a positive pre-event test for Loeb, where he completed just over 300 miles of running in Spain, and he has since spent time watching onboard videos from last year’s event in an effort to further remind himself of the route.
Loeb pointed out that, while there is a perception that he knows Rally Mexico, the route has been changed since he last drove in 2012.
He said: “Twenty-eight per cent of the course is going to be new to me, compared with just four per cent for the others, but that’s pretty positive, because it is one of the events I still know best. However, my memories of the 72 per cent that I have driven before go back six years, so I’ve done a little bit of work so that I don’t feel completely disorientated. I hope my [11th] position in Friday’s running order will help me to get my bearings because, with the current regulations, you really need to have a good first day otherwise your rally suffers.”