The rallycross track in Riga, Latvia, was the scene of Sébastien Loeb’s only victory during last year’s World Rallycross Championship, and it seems he still holds its favour. On the tenth event of this year’s Championship, this weekend, the Team Peugeot Hansen driver quickly confirmed his dominance. On splendid form, the Alsatian emerged from the qualifying heats in second place, buoyed by two third place finishes (Q2 and Q3) and a victory in Q4 after a glorious start sequence. Prompt to unleash the horsepower of his Lioness, he also laid claim to his semi-final, but a slightly less impressive start in the final forced him to perform a masterful comeback from the last position to the third. Once more on the podium — his fifth consecutive podium, his sixth of the year. It leaves him with mixed feeling, yet still allows him to hope to reach the Championship podium within the next two events before the end of the season.
“Firstly I’d like to congratulate Johan Kristoffersson for his win,” the French champion admitted with his customary sense of fair-play. “He’s been both fast and clean throughout the season. On my part, I am fairly positive about this weekend. On the one hand, there’s obviously the satisfaction of once more putting in a good performance, including some very nice starts under the rain. Much like in Lohéac recently, the strong level of grip on the track allowed me to express myself at the wheel of my Peugeot 208 WRX, which was very finely tuned. On the other hand, it was frustrating not to be able to fight with Kristoffersson in spite of my potential in terms of pure speed, since I was a bit faster than Ekström. The latter managed to start better than I did in the final, he aimed for the inside, and that’s how I ended up in sixth position on the first turn, having to overtake my opponents one by one. But that’s rallycross, you can’t cede an inch to these drivers. In any case, this weekend’s result encourages us to persevere and aim for the best possible finish to the year.”
The next event takes place in Estering, Germany (29th of September- 1st of October) — its first hairpin bend, tricky as ever, surely has surprises in store for us.
RESULTS:
RIGA RX:
1. Johan Kristoffersson (VW Polo GTI)
2. Mattias Ekström (Audi S1 Quattro)
3. Sébastien Loeb (Peugeot 208 WRX)
…
CHAMPIONNAT:
1. Johan Kristoffersson (VW Polo GTI) 271 pts
2. Petter Solberg (VW Polo GTI) 209 pts
3. Mattias Ekström (Audi S1 Quattro) 204 pts
4. Sébastien Loeb (Peugeot 208 WRX) 194 pts