Loeb interview and thoughts for rest of season

[noel157]

Loeb is in Ireland this week for tarmac testing in preparation for Rally Ireland. He'll be competing with the C4 in the Donegal Rally this weekend:

World champion Loeb makes Donegal his goal
Monday, June 11, 2007

French star Sebastien Loeb will become the first reigning World champion to compete on a round of the Irish Tarmac rally championship when he takes part in the Donegal International this weekend. In an exclusive interview with Sammy Hamill he explains about his reasons for coming and his surprisingly low expectations.


Sebastien Loeb doesn't know what to expect when he comes to Ireland this week - but he doesn't expect to win the Shell Donegal International Rally.

"It is not impossible," says the World champion, "but it is not the goal."

The 'goal' he insists is to prepare for what could be the crucial round in the defence of his World title, Rally Ireland in November.

"It will be more important to win next time I come to Ireland," adds the 33-year-old French master who, unusually, finds himself not leading the World championship as it enters its summer break.

Loeb has dominated the World series for the past three years, not only winning a hat-trick of titles but compiling a record 32 individual rally victories. This year, however, the wheels have buckled slightly on Citroen C4 wagon.

True, he has won in Monte Carlo, Mexico, Portugal and Argentina but uncharacteristically he crashed out in Sardinia (Rally Italy) and was beaten into second place by Marcus Gronholm in Greece just over a week ago.

Now he trails the Finn, who started his preparations for Rally Ireland by winning the Galway International in February, by nine points at the halfway stage in the season.

"It is important for me to get good points everywhere now but especially on the asphalt rallies like Rally Ireland," he says.

"The championship is very close but I am not leading and Marcus is very strong this year. The next rally is in Finland which is not good for me but after that we have three asphalt rallies which maybe Marcus doesn't like so much."

One of those is Rally Ireland and although has never been across the Irish Sea, not even on holiday, Swiss-based Loeb has it marked down as a potentially vital event in the battle for the title.

"Maybe it will be wet in November, " he says slyly, reflecting Gronholm's acknowledged dislike of slippery tarmac.

But it is all the more reason why Loeb feels he must learn about Irish roads and Irish conditions - and hence the reason for the entire Citroen Sport entourage descending on Letterkenny this week for an Irish Tarmac championship international which begins on Friday.

" It will be good experience for me to come to Donegal," he says. " Despite Citroën's experience of asphalt competition, it seems that the Irish roads have characteristics that we have never previously come across anywhere else.

"I know Marcus struggled when he was in Galway so I know it will be difficult. I understand the roads are narrow and bumpy but fast so it will be important to find a good set-up for the car.

"I am not thinking about winning, only about finding the best set-up. That means we will be testing things, experimenting, and maybe we do some stages with some things that are wrong. It will be about learning."

But you are the World champion, I suggest, a driver who likes to win every rally, you won't want to be beaten.

"No, I like to win but this time it is not very important," he insists.

"It is not impossible for me to win but it is not the goal. We will see.

" I don't know the level of the local drivers but I expect them to be fast and they will know the stages better than me. It is difficult to do just two passes over the stages (to prepare pacenotes) and to maybe be as fast as them.

"This has happened before on French rallies that I don't know and there has been a local driver with a good car who has been very quick.

"For sure, I would like to win but it is more important to get good experience and to work on preparing the car for Rally Ireland."

Citroen Sport boss Guy Frequelin echoes his team leader's views.

"The Irish stages are very specific and we wanted to get a feel for what we can expect when we return in November," he says. "Entering Sebastien in a C4 WRC is the best way of evaluating the special challenges involved.

"Although the Donegal Rally's route is only some 100km from the heart of Rally Ireland's action, it doesn't share any stages with the WRC qualifier which is based further to the south. Even so, the bumpy, narrow profile of the stages and the type of asphalt will give us some useful pointers to help optimise our preparations for the championship's penultimate round.

"Depending on where we stand at the time in the drivers' and manufacturers' standings, it might be important to score a top result and our trip to Donegal is intended to give us every chance of doing that."

It was Frequelin who championed a young Loeb's cause back in 2000 and who ultimately jettisoned former World champion Colin McRae to make way for his protégé.

Neither he nor the engaging Loeb, who revealed this week that his wife Severine is expecting a baby, can image the kind of reception they will experience in Donegal. Ireland regards itself as the home of tarmac rallying, boasting more WRC supercars than any other country in the world - and now the supreme maestro of the 'black art' is coming.

Even our Tarmac champion Eugene Donnelly is excited. "Just to meet him will be an honour," he says. "Donegal is going to go mental this weekend."

Source: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sp...cle2643611.ece

[J4MIE]

Well it should be a good rally but he's absolutely right, he's there to learn and not to win. Although I expect it will be close after Galway was pretty exciting.

I leave for Letterkenny in about an hour