Sebastien Loeb admits that he did not expect to win Rallye Monte Carlo and the only expectation he had was to fight with the other drivers in the front taking into account his full absence from the World Rally Championship.
The nine-time World Rally Champion claimed his eighth win in Monte Carlo for this event and totally his 80th win in his WRC career.
He was leading Rallye Monte Carlo at the end of Friday, but he lost the lead from Sebastien Ogier in the morning loop of Saturday.
However, Ogier suffered from a puncture in the penultimate stage of the event and dropped more than 30 seconds there, so Loeb reclaimed the lead of the race.
After Ogier having received a 10-second time penalty for his jump start in the Powerstage, the win was more on Loeb's hands as the gap was increased.
Finally, it must be mentioned that Loeb had tested Ford Puma Rally1 in Spain and in France last October and last November respectively while he completed his final preparations for Rallye Monte Carlo on 16 January, two days after the end of Dakar Rally 2022 in which he had took part in.
"I'm really happy, I didn't expect so much", Loeb said.
"When I came here I didn't really know what to expect, I was just hoping I would be in a good rhythm and able to fight with the guys in the front.
"In the end it was more than we expected, we were able to fight with Ogier to boast for the win, and to finally win the rally at the end like this is just amazing.
"It comes ten years after my last championship, I haven't done too many rallies since then, so to still be able to fight is just a great moment and I'm really proud of what we did.
"With Isabelle it was a very good weekend, she did a good job.
"The feeling with the car has been good since my first test and that gave me some confidence, but I didn't really know what level I would be at, but now we have the confirmation that we are able to fight at the front so it's just exceptional for us.
"A big thanks to all the team, they did a great job and the car was perfect all weekend, so a big thank you to everybody."
Photo Credits: M-Sport
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