Q&A with Sebastien Loeb - It has been a great battle

Sebastien Loeb extended his lead of the FIA World Rally Championship with his third victory on Brother Rally New Zealand following a "perfect" performance in his factory Citroen DS3 WRC.

Sebastien, congratulations on your third win in a row this season. It seemed like a flawless performance this weekend, how do you feel it went?

“It’s a pleasure to win here. It has been a great battle over the weekend on some very nice roads with my team-mate Mikko [Hirvonen]. It was really a good fight, over two long days, on some beautiful roads so I really enjoyed myself. It was the perfect rally.”

A battle with your team-mate Mikko Hirvonen throughout Friday and Saturday, how much were you pushing to the limit on the stages?

“Yes, we were pushing all the time and we were really flat out. The conditions were not easy so there was also the question of not doing too much - that’s my problem here. Every day has been tricky, it has been raining a lot, it looks sunny sometimes, and then suddenly a shower. So the most difficult time was when we had the hard tyres on - like yesterday afternoon, was really difficult.”

How tough were the conditions this morning?

“The road conditions were quite difficult with a lot of rain for the first half of the day. There was a lot of mud but finally here in New Zealand the grip is not so bad. If it’s muddy it is not like other rallies where it can be completely impossible to drive. But the feeling was quite okay and we could enjoy the fight.”

What is so enjoyable about competing on these stages?

“It is a very beautiful rally. They are really nice flowing roads with some camber so you throw the car from one side to the other. It is really an incredible feeling to be here. You need to be flat out all the time so it’s really great.”

Tyre selection was crucial here, you always seemed to get it right - is that just experience?

“It’s not easy to make the right tyre choice. We only had 10 soft so it was a bit difficult. And with rain at times - we just had to run with that.”

You’ve got an even bigger lead in the championship. How do you feel about that?

“It’s in a good way. I have a good lead now and for sure I feel good. You never know but it’s looking good.”