Sébastien Loeb, runner-up in the general, could have taken full advantage of the three punctures of Carlos Sainz, his direct opponent in the general, if he had not also had to stop for two punctures on the side where his hydraulic jack was not working not.
He ultimately had to look for rocks to “rock the car so the rear would come up,” he explained after the race. Another waste of time, the nut gun was out of battery. “We had to take out the toolbox to get the manual wrench to tighten the wheel. It’s annoying, he complained. It’s annoying at the time but we took some time back from Carlos, that’s what we wanted.”
The nine-time world rally champion has in fact recovered 7’11 from Sainz, but is still 13’22 behind the Audi driver.
