Sebastien Loeb has revealed the struggle he has faced running first on the road on day two of Rally d'Italia Sardegna.
Loeb, driving a Citroen DS3 WRC, has spent the morning forging a path through the loose surface gravel on the soft and sandy island stages south of the rally base in Olbia. He also ran first on day one, which he completed with a relatively comfortable lead.
Despite the hindrance of running first on the road, the seven-time title winner has maintained a healthy advantage at the head of the field following Saturday’s opening trio of tests.
“It has been very difficult and I’m very happy with the times I have done,” said Loeb at the midday service halt in Olbia. “It was really important to take some risks and push very, very hard and because of this we have taken some time.
“The braking is especially difficult when you are downhill because you are never stopping when you turn and the car is starting to oversteer a lot so you have to calm it completely to keep it in a line. It’s very difficult and we really have to adapt to the conditions - we cannot do much to the car. But it is a similar situation for the other drivers behind. They are cleaning too.”
Loeb has won in Sardinia on three previous occasions and says the condition of the stage surface this afternoon will determine whether or not he can keep his lead tonight.
“What we have seen before is sometimes the second pass won’t be as bad but there are the little cars coming behind and putting the gravel on the road so we are not sure.”
After four rounds Loeb leads the drivers’ championship classification, two points clear for factory Ford pilot Mikko Hirvonen.
Credit: World Rally Championship (www.wrc.com)
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