Super 1600 round-up: Loeb wins

His win was by no means an easy one to take, because although the Citroen driver took the initial lead it took just one stage for Italian Andrea Dallavilla to grab the advantage. The pair swapped seconds - and the category lead - throughout the opening day, before Loeb established himself at the head of the timesheets by the second morning.

After SS12, however, Loeb received a one-minute penalty after confusion over his arrival at a time control, and that time loss was enough to gift the class lead to Francois Duval (Ford Puma). Loeb spent much of Saturday afternoon recovering the deficit and as Duval suffered from softening suspension, the series leader was able to reclaim the top spot. He held that position to the end, eventually finishing more than five minutes clear of Dallavilla, who'd lost time with driveshaft problems.

"I'm pleased, of course. This has been the most difficult of the rallies for me but also one of the most enjoyable," said Loeb. "The stages here have been great fun to drive and there has been so much competition that I've had to push very hard from the start. It's been good experience for me, because it's taught me some lessons about how hard you can go after just two passes over the stages to make pacenotes. You have to have confidence in your notes."

Loeb's victory will be the last with the current-specification Saxo. From the next round in San Remo, Citroen is being forced to use the same method of air restriction as its rivals. But Loeb does not believe the changes will make a difference. "I think the car will basically be the same," he said. "I'm not expecting a loss of performance, power or torque."

FIA Super 1600 Cup (after 3 of 6 rounds):
Loeb (F) 30, Dallavilla (I) 14, Stenshorne (N) 7, Basso (I) & Fontana (I) 6,
Valimaki (FIN) 4, Robert (F) & Cols (B) 3, Magaud (F) 2,
Chemin (I) & Ceccato (I) & Galanti (PY) 1.