Sebastien Loeb wins Rally Mexico

Sebastien Loeb has quickly erased the poor start to his 2011 WRC campaign by winning Rally Mexico. The six-time world champ is now in second place on the standings behind Mikko Hirvonen, Rally Sweden winner, who finished second in Mexico ahead of his Ford team mate Jari Matti Latvala.

It was the maiden win for Loeb in his new Citroën DS3 WRC who reluctantly accepted his fifth Rally Mexico success after team mate Sebastien Ogier crashed out on the last day while leading the event.

“Seeing Sébastien and Julian on the side of the road didn’t give me much pleasure. We could have fought till the very end and it’s a pity it finished like that. We went back into the lead of the rally with more than 1m 30s in hand over Mikko. We just nursed it home,” said Loeb.

A brief post-race interview with Loeb can be seen at the Citroën WRC website.

[Pic: Citroën WRC]

UPDATE: A press release from Citroën UK has been added below.

Loeb scores the Citroën DS3 WRC’s maiden victory

Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena, who have been unbeaten in Mexico since 2006, yesterday racked up their fifth consecutive victory and in doing so, scored a maiden win for the Citroën DS3 WRC. Loeb and Elena are now in second place in the Drivers’ World Championship.

Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia, in the sister DS3 WRC, went off in the first stage on the final day and had to retire due to a broken left-hand front upright. Only 10.5s had separated Ogier and Loeb when they left the Poliforum de León service park, “I had to push to hold on to my first place as my position of being first out forced me to sweep the roads yet again,” explained the Citroën Total World Rally Team driver. “In a corner, the car understeered and I went a bit wide. I couldn’t avoid a stone on the verge and the left-hand front upright broke. I gambled and I lost, but above all I’m feeling gutted for the whole team. We’d done a great job since the start of the weekend and I didn’t manage to make it pay off by scoring precious points for Citroën.”

When Loeb saw his team-mate stopped in the stage he lifted off a little until the finish: “Seeing Sébastien and Julien on the side of the road didn’t give me much pleasure. We could have fought till the very end and it’s a pity it finished like that. We went back into the lead of the rally with more than 1m 30s in hand over Mikko. We just nursed it home.”

After losing a few seconds in Comanjilla, Loeb arrived at the start of the Power Stage with the firm intention of adding a few more points to his tally. By snatching the second-quickest time from Petter Solberg, the seven-time world champion bagged an additional two points rounding off a very exciting weekend: “We’ve just had a very tricky rally. I had a great scrap with Sébastien Ogier, a few teething troubles with the car, and my victory only came at the end of the race. It’s a good result where points are concerned, as we’re in second place in the world championship. The season’s really begun for us here.”

“It’s another exceptional result for Citroën,” smiled Olivier Quesnel. “It was a really great rally. We lost Sébastien Ogier along the way; it’s unfortunate but that’s how it goes. In the first event on gravel we showed the speed and reliability of the DS3 WRC, even if we had a few glitches. I’m feeling confident for the rest of the season as I’m convinced that we’ve got the best car and the best crews. We’ve now got to use our brains to fight for the two world titles.”

Petter Solberg and Chris Patterson drove a cautious third leg and brought their DS3 WRC home in fourth place as well as scoring a bonus point in the Power Stage.