The Frenchman is known to be an asphalt specialist and hopes to get back into a winning streak in the WRC, as he is yet to win an event in over 5 months. His last win in the championship was in Argentina, in late April, after which he dropped no less than 25 points to his Ford rival in the classification.
In Australia, Loeb drove a perfect race to finish first overall, but was later handed a penalty by the Aussie stewards – for a technical infringement – to eventually finish 2nd overall. Although the mistake was his team's and not his, Loeb insisted he blames nobody for what happened on the roads of New South Wales and trusts his car for a 5th consecutive win in Spain.
“I can't bear a grudge against my team because anyone can make a mistake, including me, too, this year. With hindsight, although the penalty was hard to swallow. It came at a bad time, but I've put it behind me now,” said Loeb, who revealed that Citroen has managed to update the C4 significantly as compared to last year's event in Catalonia.
Loeb also admitted he is confident that either Sordo or another asphalt specialist will get between him and Hirvonen at the finish line – in case he wins, of course – in order for him to close the gap on the championship leader by more than 2 points. Should Hirvonen score back-to-back runner-up finishes in Spain and Wales, he'll become world champion regardless of Loeb's potential wins.
“It's not a position I wanted to be in, but I can only accept it. That said, a Citroen one-two here in Spain seems to be a higher probability than in, say, Sweden. If Dani, or anybody else, manages to finish between Mikko and me, that will practically put us back level again. If that happens, we'll see how we approach Rally GB. For the moment, my priority is to win in Spain,” added the Citroen ace.
Google News