His title might already have been in the bag, but Sébastien Loeb wasn't letting up in Catalunya, though a certain theme park mascot did disconcert the seven-time world champion…
"Welcome to PortAventura! Can I give you a hug? Hug me!”
Not the most conventional welcome to a rally service area, but then again most service areas aren’t located in a theme park…
"I’m really not sure about the woodpecker…”
Sébastien Loeb voices what everyone else is thinking about Woody Woodpecker, the very irritating bright blue bird, mascot of PortAventura and unfortunately our host for the event. Among the more welcome celebrity spots over the Rallye de España weekend are Ari Vatanen, former world rally champion and would-be FIA president, and former rally-winner Michèle Mouton, arguably the most successful woman in motorsport.
"Sébastien? He’s an extra-terrestrial.”
One seasoned French journalist thus sums up Loeb, who also wasn’t sure if he could lead the rally despite being first on the road during the opening day, but who somehow managed it.
"I don’t regret trying to keep up with Seb, even if it meant taking a few risks. You have to push yourself if you want to improve.”
Citroën Junior Team driver Sébastien Ogier, the principal driver giving chase to Loeb until it all ended on Saturday morning when he rearranged his front suspension against a guardrail.
"In some places, it was more like a rallycross circuit than an asphalt stage. There were times when I couldn’t even see the road.”
Ogier’s team-mate in the Citroën Junior squad, Kimi Räikkönen, also had to contend with mud and gravel sprinkled over the stages by previous cars cutting corners, going off the road twice on Saturday.
"If you’re in a private car like mine, then you have absolutely no chance of winning… Zero. The factory cars are night-and-day different.”
Petter Solberg makes it clear how he thinks the odds are stacked as he and Dani Sordo take up the battle for second place.
"Don’t listen to Petter – his car is very good indeed. The difference between my car and his is really small.”
Sordo, perhaps unsurprisingly, sees it differently.
"Dani, I want to have your baby!”
One particularly avid fan in the service park on Saturday to Dani Sordo. Not even the offer of home support in the form of sex was enough to spur the Spaniard on to second place. Instead he finished third, but just 5.8 seconds behind Solberg.
"I just couldn’t believe how close we came to the trees and the people. I saw some of the corners coming up and I thought to myself, ‘Surely we’re not going in at this speed? Sideways?’ But we were. I like the idea of driving, but you’d have to be mad to be a co-driver.”
A very breathless Aleix Espargaró – MotoGP rider for Pramac Ducati and special guest in Spain – who took a ride at the shakedown with Ford driver Khalid Al Qassimi.
"If you’re not quite right in the head, you probably have exactly what it takes to do this job.”
Daniel Elena, who sits alongside Sébastien Loeb, agrees with his fellow countryman Aleix.
"It happened. I’m already over it. I’m much more interested in the future than the past…”
Kimi Räikkönen will always remember the Catalunya Rally shakedown, too – but for different reasons. He crashed there before the rally even started, bending the rollcage and ending his weekend’s work on the spot.
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