Sebastien Loeb has been burning rubber after his win at Rally New Zealand last weekend, but this time, it wasn’t the Citroen C4 WRC that he was running in, it was a circuit-ready Porsche Carrera. Loeb competed in two races in the Porsche Matmut Carrera Cup at Albi in Southern France. Citroen allowed the Frenchman to go ahead when he received the invite and Loeb, who has been a part of circuit racing earlier with the Le Mans 24-hour race and the Renault Formula One test last season, took to it like a duck to water.
The special guest of the weekend, Loeb qualified for the first race in 12th place and in wet conditions, Loeb spun off the track. “I was faster than the other drivers in the wet and a bit less careful too,” explained Loeb. “At the end of one of the longer straights I’d overtaken the car in front, and a few others, but I missed my braking point and went off.”
The second race was rather short for Loeb as in the very first turn on the first lap, another car took him out of the race. “I must say I was hungry for a good result today but somebody hit my left-hand rear wheel as I was going into the turn,” he explained. “The impact wasn’t too violent but it was enough to burst the tyre.”
Loeb managed to make it back to the pits but decided not to rejoin the race. “Why obstruct the other drivers who are fighting for the championship to go and seek a result which would not satisfy me?” he said. “It is frustrating because I would have liked to see what I could have done on a dry circuit. But that, as they say, is racing!”
WRC calendar permitting, Loeb would be keen to participate in another such event.”I really enjoyed it, and I’m very grateful to all the people who made it possible,” he said. “This type of sprint racing is a new exercise for me and I’ve definitely come away having learned a few new things this weekend.”
