Two-time world rally champion,
Sebastien Loeb has said that he wants to 'savour the feeling' of having equalled Carlos Sainz's record number of wins.
Loeb's victory on the Rallye Deutschland on Sunday, his fifth in succession in Germany, following his very first WRC victory there back in 2002, took his personal total to 26 wins, the same as that recorded by Sainz. However while it took Sainz 15 years to reach that total, and become the most successful driver in the history of the sport in terms of outright wins, Loeb, who is still only 32-years-old, needed only five years in the WRC to match it.
"I love the Rallye Deutschland and it has always been good to me," said the Frenchman at the finish, "but it's fair to say that the traditionally complex weather makes it quite a stressful experience. There was a bit of extra pressure on top as well - I had to make sure I made no mistakes on my home territory and score the maximum number of points for the championship. Now it's over and I can relax a bit!
"I want to really savour the feeling of equalling Carlos Sainz's record number of wins. I've never hidden the fact that this is a record I really wanted, because of the immense respect I have for Carlos and his career. Yet it's still a benchmark I want to beat."
As for the event itself, Loeb was pleased with his form and the performance of his
Citroen Xsara WRC, which was again bullet-proof: "We had an entirely clean and trouble-free run. We didn't make any mistakes and the team didn't put a foot wrong either, particularly when it came to tyre choice - whether it was performance we were after, like Friday, or safety like today and yesterday."
