Sébastien Loeb blames poor start for tough race

Sébastien Loeb just made it to the podium this weekend by finishing in third after a race-long fight with Tom Chilton and Hugo Valente.

The Citroën driver blamed himself for a bad start and had to make up for it during the race:”I had a really bad start and I was very slow off the grid, I did something wrong manipulating all the different systems, so I was fifth after the start behind the Chevrolets of Tom Chilton and Hugo Valente.”

Loeb struggled to overtake the pair as the aerodynamic turbulences made it difficult for him to drive his C-Elysée as he would have liked:”It is very hard to overtake here, because when you are running close to the car in front you lose a lot of downforce and you start understeering, so it was not a nice situation.”

Despite this, the Frenchman was patient and took the opportunity when it came as Tom Chilton overtook Valente at Turn 14, leaving enough room for the Citroën to pull a move on the Chevrolet:”I had a good race, just stayed close behind them and when I saw the opportunity I just took it, after Tom Chilton also overtook Valente for second.”

Loeb’s results in Suzuka leave him in third in the standings, but he made up for 11 points from his team-mate Yvan Muller and is still in the hunt for the runner-up spot in the championship, with a 30-points gap and 50 left up for grabs.