Sebastien Loeb said after Rallye Monte Carlo that “it had been difficult all weekend.”
Loeb ended the event sixth in the third Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC after struggling throughout the event, particularly on Sunday where he nearly crashed out but with thanks to spectators, managed to move his stuck car off the edge of a ditch and he continued.
The nine-time champion was also yesterday revealed to be dropped for the next round of the championship in Sweden in favour of Craig Breen.
Loeb said on his Monte Carlo weekend: “This has certainly not been the rally we were hoping for; it has been a difficult one all weekend and it seems the planets were not aligned for us. We were going OK until the second day but then on Sunday we were backed up.”
“We were already struggling at the end of the first stage (on Sunday), and I made a mistake at a tight hairpin in the second stage because I had no front grip. We just had to complete the rally, conserving our tyres to make it to the end.”
“It’s not nice to tackle stages in that way but it was all we could do. We never give up. Huge congratulations to Thierry, Nicolas and the entire Hyundai Motorsport team for the victory. It takes something to win Rallye Monte-Carlo, so just enjoy these moments.”
The Frenchman had been running fourth for most of the event although was caught late on by both Esapekka Lappi and Kalle Rovanperä on the leaderboard after he was forced to save his tyres on Sunday’s final stages.
Loeb was scheduled to be driving for the Korean manufacturer on the snow event next month but has been replaced by Irishman Breen who’ll drive alongside Thierry Neuville and Ott Tänak.
