WRC RIVALS WARY OF LOE BIN CORSICA
Citroen ace expected to shine on asphalt surface in france
Sebastien Loeb’s World Rally Championship rivals have admitted they fear the performance the series’ most successful driver ever could deliver at this week’s Tour de Corse.
Despite being away from the full-time WRC since the end of 2012, Loeb managed to steer his Citroen C3 WRC to the top of the timesheets at last month’s Rally Mexico. The nine-time champion only lost his shot at victory when he dropped out of the lead changing a puncture on the Leonbased event.
Loeb’s Rally Mexico pace has rattled his rivals, who have pointed to his record on the French island. Loeb won Corsica the last four times he competed there (2005-08), famously winning every stage en route to his maiden success on the French island in 2005. He won a majority of stages on the four events he was victorious on during that period.
Asked what he expected from his countryman and rival, M-sport Ford’s Sebastien Ogier told MN: “We will see. This weekend was not bad for him and on Tarmac he is strong also. He did some rallies [on asphalt] so he’ll have the rhythm again. Possibly he can be even stronger in Corsica. We definitely need to show we have improved our car because the C3 last year was untouchable on Tarmac.”
Nobody knows about Loeb’s asphalt pace more than Dani Sordo, his former team-mate at Citroen. Sordo said: “He will be dangerous in Corsica, we know that. He was good in Mexico, like we expected, but sometimes he is even more at home when he is on the asphalt…”
Loeb was pleased with the progress he made at his pre-event test late last month, but he remained guarded about his chances.
“In Mexico I had driven quite a lot of the stages,” said Loeb, “but it won’t be like it in Corsica, I will have to discover a lot of the roads. But I like Corsica, I have good memories and I’ve always been competitive on Tarmac. In Mexico I was curious to see where I was, I really wanted to be in the fight and I managed that. I hope to be in the fight this week.”
Loeb’s Citroen team-mate Kris Meeke, who was with him briefly at their pre-event test, did little to allay rivals’ fears.
In terms of what Loeb could achieve, Meeke added: “I think he can go quicker again. Sixty per cent of the route is new in Corsica and that’s only going to help him.”
Having edged his countryman and former intense rival Loeb in Mexico, Ogier’s hopes of doing the same again this week have been boosted by a strong preevent test. M-sport’s head of rally engineering Chris Williams told MN he was confident the Fiesta WRC would be more competitive than in Corsica 12 months ago, when Ogier was almost a minute down on winner Neuville.
“We are definitely further on than we were [last time on asphalt] in Spain last year,” said Williams. “We’ve made a step through the winter. Some of the step was apparent in Mexico and is directly translatable [to asphalt]. The feedback from the drivers from the test was good – this was probably the happiest Sebastien’s been on Tarmac, will that translate? We don’t know, but we have a happy driver which is a very good start.”