RALLYE DU VAR CUT SHORT AS LOEB DOMINATES EVENT
Sebastien Loeb’s hopes of some sort of meaningful Monte Carlo running at last week’s Rallye du Var were ruined when the event lost a day of competition due to flooding.
The Var region in the south of France was hit by rain storms through the end of last week and the rain continued into the competition, forcing the organisers to cancel seven of the planned 14 stages. Six were canned on Saturday with one lost on the final day.
Driving a Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC, Loeb won the event comfortably from Nikolay Gryazin’s Skoda Fabia R5 evo. The Russian made the most of the tricky conditions to lead the nine-time world champion by 2.6s after Friday night’s opening loop of three stages.
Loeb said: “Rallye du Var is an event I always enjoy. The roads are very nice and it’s run in an area where – usually – we get some good weather.
But last weekend it was really complicated.
“It was raining a lot. Shakedown was not so bad, but already on the first stage [on Friday] the conditions were a bit tricky, but it was getting more and more and then the last stage on Friday was completely in the night with the big fog and a lot of watersplashes. This was complicated.
“The first stage on Saturday was just like a river, it was nearly undriveable and there was no other choice [but] to cancel the day. The water was just flowing across the road on the road sections and then it was undriveable in the stages. It’s a shame for the organiser and for us to be in this position, but it’s like this and they had no other choice.”
Loeb, co-driven by girlfriend Laurene Godey, won by more than a minute from Gryazin.
Hyundai’s next outing comes at next weekend’s Monza Rally, where Dani Sordo and Andreas Mikkelsen will drive a brace of i20 R5s.