Sébastien Loeb happy with podium after an up and down weekend.

Sébastien Loeb ahead of his teammate Kevin Hansen.
PHOTO CREDIT: Peugeot Sport.

Sébastien Loeb dominated the opening day [on Saturday] at Trois-Rivieres by winning both Q1 and Q2 in his new Peugeot 208 RX Evo. The Frenchman went on to secure a podium finish, and moved to second in the drivers' standings. 

Team Peugeot Total debuted the new 208 RX Evo Supercar in Holjes, Sweden. The car showed promising pace in the hands of Loeb and Timmy Hansen, but both drivers' felt that there was more pace to be unlocked. The team took the opportunity to further test the new evolution at the official test in Riga, Latvia. 

The Peugeot 208 RX Evo was the car to beat after its Saturday qualifying performance, but Loeb rues a weekend of ups and downs. 

“For me it was an up and down weekend, as is often the case in rallycross," said Loeb. "We had a perfect day on Saturday but today wasn’t as good: this morning I had a contact with Mattias Ekstrom and then in the semi-final I made a mistake, which was my fault, and that meant that I was starting the final on the 3rd row – which is never easy."

The Frenchman's mistake meant that he would start behind his teammate Timmy Hansen and polesitter Johan Kristoffersson. But, in the end Loeb was happy that he secured a podium finish.

"Still, to start on the 3rd row and then end up on the podium is not bad, so in the end I am happy about this team result and to share the podium with Timmy," says Loeb. 

Even though the Frenchman missed out on a win, he feels that there are positives to take out from the Canadian round. "We’ve carried out plenty of evolutions on this car since driving it for the first time in Sweden and the progress is clear to see: we’re fighting against the top factory cars now and we've made up some positions in the championships," he explains. "So it’s been a very nice battle all weekend and I’m happy to be on the podium at the end of it.”