Triple World champion,
Sebastien Loeb lost the lead on the Rallye Deutschland in the final test on Friday, after a wrong tyre choice left him up against it on the repeat loop.
The
Citroen man, who has won in Germany every year since it joined the WRC schedule back in 2002, began the event perfectly with two stages win from three on the morning loop and as such he went into the mid-day service with a 5.8 second lead.
“We got the weekend off to a great start on SS1. I think we caught our rivals by surprise and that enabled us to pull out a bit of a cushion,” said Loeb in service A. “I kept to the same pace for SS2 and posted the fastest time again, but a small mistake round a hairpin on SS3 cost me a few seconds."
The afternoon stages though did not go so well and after opting for the softer BFGoodrich tyres, in the belief that the tests would remain wet, the Frenchman found himself at a bit of a disadvantage.
Indeed while he minimised the time lost in SS4 and SS5 to a bare minimum, he could only set the fifth best time in SS6 and that was enough to drop him behind his former Citroen Sport team-mate,
Francois Duval.
“The roads dried out quicker than expected [this afternoon]. The car was also more difficult to drive and less precise,” he explained. “Even so, I managed to limit the damage and I'm not unhappy with my times.
“François Duval is always strong here and his performance today doesn't surprise me. After all, he has been on the podium here already.
“He has made the most of the fact that he is driving a Xsara too, which is unbeaten in Germany and which is equipped with three active differentials, something the regulations do not allow for the C4.
“Last but not least, his tyres seemed to be more suited to the conditions. The gap isn't that big, however, and I will try to pass ahead again on Saturday during the second leg. The rally will start in earnest for me then,” Loeb concluded.
