Tyre Choice the Key to Loeb’s Victory

Sebastien Loeb drove his Michelin clad Citroen to victory yesterday in Rally New Zealand.

At the finish the 31-year-old reigning world champion had a 49.8 seconds margin over Finn Marcus Gronholm in a Peugeot with last year’s winner, Subaru’s Petter Solberg, a further 18.9 seconds back in third place.

The Norwegian Solberg still leads the drivers’ championship after four rounds by one point from Loeb with Peugeot’s Markko Martin two points further back.

The heat of New Zealand’s summer put further pressure on Michelin and Citroen to
“At Citroen we have worked over the year on this type of gravel. We changed a bit of everything since last year, said Loeb.”

“We changed the suspension, the engine and we also have some new version of the tyre. This means the car is really feeling perfect and it’s looking good for the future.”