Loeb: '2003 lessons gave us title'
- 20/10/2004 10:56:51
Newly-crowned world champion Sebastien Loeb has admitted that the disappointment of losing last year’s drivers’ championship by just one point was the catalyst for his successful title-winning campaign this year.
The Frenchman lost out to Subaru’s Petter Solberg in 2003, but says that spotting the rallies on which he could have made up the defecit to the Norwegian encouraged him to take a more conservative, tactical approach.
“I owe this title to the work we did at the end of 2003,” he said in this week’s Motorsport News. “Losing last year’s championship by one point gave me great motivation for this season. When I looked back at last year’s results, I could see a lot of rallies where I didn’t finish or made a mistake – and they cost me the point I needed.
“Because of that, I decided to take a sensible approach this year. The emphasis has been on scoring points when we can and pushing for victory whenever the car and conditions have allowed. Our strategy has been to avoid breaking the car and to steer clear of risky tyre choices.”
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