Loeb: Australia points crucial

Sebastien Loeb says his capture of four world championship points on Rally Australia yesterday (Sunday) could be crucial if the Citroen ace is to win title number eight this season.

Loeb was one of the favourites to claim victory on the mainly gravel-based Coffs Coast event but dropped out of contention when he rolled on Friday’s second test.

He returned to battle on day two, after his Citroen DS3 WRC underwent extensive repairs, to finish 10th but that was only thanks to a spate of retirements and an order from Citroen bosses that slowed team-mate Sebastien Ogier who had been ahead of Loeb in the overall classification.

“I cannot be happy with a rally like we have done,” said the 37-year-old. “Our two cars crashed and we lost a lot of time but finally we have done the only thing we could do and that was to score these four points, one in the rally and three in the Power Stage. We are not happy but it’s better than nothing.”

Loeb’s troubles meant his 25-point title advantage has been cut to 15 points with Mikko Hirvonen moving ahead of Ogier into second place.

“The gap could have been eight points so finally this is better,” said Loeb. “But my lead is much closer than it was before the rally so we are not allowed to do more mistakes. I am under pressure now.”

Sven Smeets, the Citroen Racing team manager, said the event had turned into an exercise of damage limitation.

“If we have to compare the situation tonight with the situation on Friday we still have a 62-point lead in the manufacturers’ championship and 15 points in the drivers’ championship,” said Smeets. “We knew Hirvonen would come back on the final day so we decided to play our card. Sebastien [Loeb] leads the championship and he needs the points in the drivers’ title. But it’s all thanks to our mechanics. They did an unbelievable job to repair the cars in the three hours that they had.”

Citroen and Loeb will be hoping for an upturn in form when the world championship resumes on Rallye de France Alsace from 28 September-2 October.