WRC Rally Mexico

Just before he starts the stage, here’s a bit more Loeb on why he’s coming back. “I missed this sensation that rallying can give to you, it’s something that you don’t get from the other disciplines. "I come back for fun, but I would like to get into the rhythm and to find the feeling – if that feeling doesn’t come then I wouldn’t be happy, but that’s life.” Despite not being in Mexico for six years, Loeb elected to modify old pace notes rather than making new ones. He added: “I had to adapt the notes in some places where the road has changed a bit, but I preferred to start with a base of notes than to start with nothing. "It was OK. I recognise some places, this rally didn’t change so much, so I know where I am a little bit. I don’t know every corner, but I know some of the stages and that’s better than nothing.”

The first stage up is Duarte-Derramadero, and to provide some insight into the 16.18-mile test, our man in the service park David Evans grabbed last year's winning co-driver Paul Nagle to talk us through it. "This stage and the first stage on Saturday morning are the most tricky of the whole rally. "The first section of this stage is new to most of us, I think it was last run in 2007. From the start it’s twisty and technical, taking us in through a couple of small, typically Mexican villages. "After a slot right, we go down past the place where Stephane [Lefebvre] crashed last year and Thierry [Neuville] had a big crash a couple of years ago. It’s really fast down there for the next few miles, but the road surface is really sandy. "The last section is part of that 50-mile Guanajuato stage from a couple of years ago. This is really fast into the village of Derramadero with a massive jump and hairpin right on the entry. "Just before the village there are a couple of compressions, a couple of dips – these used to be flat, but they’ve resurfaced the road so we’re not really sure if they will be this time. "The last mile or so is new to everybody, we’ve never used this piece of road before."