Pierre-Louis Loubet is ambitious to attack at Safari Rally of Kenya saying that it was time for him to do a refocus after his retirement from Rally Italia Sardegna.
The Corsican driver secured his first full WRC programme with M-Sport Ford this season, but his campaign continues not going well as he has two retirements due to mechanical issues (Rally Monte Carlo, Rally Sardinia) and two restarts under the regulations of Rally2 (Rally Mexico, Rally de Portugal). Nevertheless, he has taken one stage win and managed to lead a rally for only one stage (Rally de Portugal) while he finished twice outside the top five (Rally Sweden, Rally Croatia).
The first WRC round of the year was very difficult for him as he had to drive without power steering for four stages in a row after hitting a bank. In Sardinia, he suffered from many car issues including loss of engine power, broken steering and gearbox issues. Despite the fact that his team confirmed his restart on Saturday morning, eventually they decided to withdraw his Puma before the start of this section as the mechanics discovered further damage.
Safari Rally of Kenya will start in eight days with the Shakedown session and it will be Loubet's first time there as he has never competed at these African stages.
"It has been tough", Loubet said.
"After Sardinia, it was time for me to make a refocus and a reset to get ready for Kenya.
"It’s exciting to go to the Safari Rally for the first time.
"It’s fair to say the results we had so far were not what we were hoping for – in Sardinia things were working really nicely on the first day even in some tough conditions.
"We will focus on the next one".
Source: wrc.com
Photo Credits: M-Sport
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