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Sebastien Loeb unlikely to restart in France as Citroen fears engine risk

Citroen team manager Sven Smeets says the French firm will not risk another possible engine failure on the Catalunya Rally to keep Sebastien Loeb in Rally de France

The seven-time champion retired from the third stage of the opening day of the rally when his engine showed signs of running high oil pressure. While the team has studied the data from the motor, after Loeb supplied the data card on his return to service in Strasbourg, no decision will be taken until the car itself returns. Loeb is expected to run the same engine on the next round of the WRC.

While he would be unlikely to collect any drivers' points in France if he continues in his home event, he could pick up three for a powerstage win on Sunday.

"We don't know exactly what is the problem," said Smeets. "But we have to find out and decide whether to send the car out again. We can't risk another engine problem in Spain because we have run the car on this event to try and get three points on the powerstage."

If Loeb retires from the event, he would sacrifice a possible powerstage bonus, but he would be entitled to a new engine for next month's Salou-based event.

Loeb said he did not think a return for days two and three would be likely.

"We broke the engine," he said. "We just can hope it's nothing bad, but I don't believe so much that we will start again tomorrow.

"We had an alarm, oil pressure, in the road. So we called on the radio to ask what we could do. We cut the boost, then the engine felt like it had no power, then it started to make some noise. If it's a failure there will be no superally.

"I don't know exactly what the damage on the engine [is] but for sure I cannot continue because I will break it completely. So we just can hope that it's not completely broken and that it's just something like a sensor or we lost the oil."

The car is expected to return to service soon after lunch, with a decision on the #1 DS3 WRC's future on Rally de France taken in the late afternoon.

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