Tuesday, 24 April 2012

Loeb Seeks Argentina Bounce


Sebastien Loeb says the best way to bounce back from the disappointment of his early exit from Vodafone Rally de Portugal last month will be to make it seven wins out of seven on Philips Rally Argentina.

Loeb is unbeaten in South America since 2005 and is relishing the prospect of taking the start in the Citroen Total World Rally Team DS3 WRC he shares with co-driver Daniel Elena. However, he says choosing his road position for day one following the Qualifying Stage on Thursday will be far from straightforward.

“After the disappointment of Portugal, I am determined to get back to winning ways, especially at this rally, with its unrivalled atmosphere,” said the eight-time winner of the FIA World Rally Championship powered by Nokia. “Once again, choosing our starting positions for the first leg is going to be a real headache. In Portugal, we took a measured risk by opting to go first, because there were only 35 kilometres of special stages on the first day. In Argentina, there are over 200 kilometres of timed stages on the Friday! If it rains, we’ll need to be at the front to avoid having to wade through the mud. If it doesn’t, then we’d certainly be better off starting in around 15th position.”

Meanwhile, Elena is braced for the tough nature of the Argentine stages: “The roads in Argentina vary from very flowing gravel to fairly rough gravel. You never know quite what to expect. What is certain, however, is that none of the drivers will be able to go flat out from start to finish. There’s a good chance gaps will appear and then disappear, but there may well only be a few seconds between the leaders at the finish.”

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