Mexico City, April 22 (BNA) Sebastien Loeb is set to build on his impressive winning record in Mexico as he looks to protect Bahrain Raid Xtreme’s lead in the World Rally Championship this week.
Loeb, partnered by Fabien Lorquin in the BRX Prodrive Hunter, has a 16-point advantage over arch-rival Nasser Al-Attiyah heading into the Sonora Rally, which kicks off with a prologue at Hermosillo tomorrow (Sunday).
The Frenchman has won nine out of 19 stages so far in the first two rounds of the WRRC series, the Dakar Rally and the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, and is enjoying his return to action in Mexico, where he has previously won six times on the way. to nine World Rally Championship titles.
“Of course, I have very good memories of the WRC Rally Mexico as I always enjoyed this rally, so I hope it will be the same with this WRRC round as well,” said Loeb.
“It’s always a new adventure whenever there’s a new event for anyone, and Sonora certainly has that feeling. We’re leading in the championship, so the goal would be to finish still ahead in the standings – that’s the goal.
“It’s been a few weeks since Fabian and I got out of the car, so we’ll be happy to get back behind the wheel and have some fun on the stages.”
With a prologue and five stages to go over 1,200km, the Bahrain Raid Xtreme is poised for another tense check, with 55 points in temperatures approaching 40 degrees Celsius, and much warmer inside the Prodrive Hunter.
The team has planned ahead and made updates to cool the four crews competing under the BRX canopy in Mexico.
Guerlain Chicherit and Alex Winocq are back in action in Prodrive Hunter, taking two stage wins at the Dakar earlier this year. The French duo expect to once again fight for stage victories, as they did in giving El Sayad a historic first victory at the Rallye du Maroc last year.
Standing out in brilliant yellow will be two new Prodrive Hunters for the Brazilian X Rally Team consisting of Christian Baumgart, Alberto Andreotti and Marcus Baumgart with Clipper Ciencia.
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