WRC: ‘Victory has done us a power of good’ – Loeb

Sebastien Loeb admitted his fourth consecutive Rally Mexico victory did him and co-driver Daniel Elena a ‘power of good’.
 

The Citroen driver was well beaten by title rival Mikko Hirvonen on the opening round of the 2010 WRC in Sweden last month, but bounced back to crush all his competitors on the gravel roads of Mexico to take a comprehensive 24-second victory.
 

”This victory’s done us a power of good,” Loeb said prior to the podium celebrations. “We controlled our race well and I think that we can look forward to the next events with confidence, as they’ll be run on similar surfaces.
 

“Thanks to this victory we’ve taken the lead in the championship and opened up a small gap over Mikko Hirvonen. It’s a good situation even if we’ll have to sweep the road in Jordan.”

Citroen Racing team principal, Olivier Quesnel, was quick to praise Loeb and Elena after their domineering display.
 

“They did a fantastic job on the second day and that’s where they consolidated this mind-boggling victory,” he said. “The C4 WRCs have dominated this rally as they set all the quickest times. They also scored the first triple by a French manufacturer in a gravel rally.”

Loeb’s team-mate, Dani Sordo, wasn’t celebrating as hard, although he could be satisfied with a points finish for seventh place after rejoining the event under Super Rally regulations following a crash on day 2 which saw him suffer a broken suspension.
 

“I’ve put yesterday’s disappointment behind me and I’m happy to have set some good times while the other two C4s were battling for second spot. Thanks to this result Citroën has scored more points than its rival in this rally – and that’s the most important thing.”
 

Watch the WRC on Motors TV (Sky Channel 413, Virgin Media 545) in 2010.

Andy Wilkinson