Loeb struggles for pace in Rally Mexico shakedown

The Citroen star, back on the WRC gravel for the first time in five years, admitted his return hadn’t been straightforward.

“It was complicated,” Loeb told Motorsport.com, “not easy. But OK, the feeling is coming back slowly.

"I still have no idea what to expect from this rally – when you see the first time at shakedown, I think nothing! I need to find the rhythm. I have lost a lot of experience over the years.”

Loeb was 2.6s down on fastest man, his Citroen team-mate Kris Meeke.

Twelve months ago Meeke won the Leon-based WRC counter in the most dramatic fashion when he went off the road on the final stage. The Northern Irishman has that particular right-hander well marked in his notes this year – and is hunting back-to-back wins in Mexico.

“Shakedown went well,” Meeke told Motorsport.com, “we had no problems. It’s good to be back here and on an event which went well for us last year. I won from 10th on the road last time out, so why not target the same result this time?

“I’ve arrived here eighth in the championship, but just six points off third – I would definitely take being eighth [on the road] over being third in on this event.”

Talking about that now infamous car park moment, Meeke said: “If I did the same again this year, I definitely wouldn’t be coming out – the place is so overgrown now. The engineers studied the data after that and discovered I was 4kph faster into there than on the first run…”

Meeke was 0.4s faster than Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville across the 3.3-mile stage. The top two were comfortably clear of the rest with Sebastien Ogier and Ott Tanak joint third, 1.8s behind.