France’s Sebastien Loeb and Sebastien Ogier were again forced into retirement on Saturday during the second day of the Rally Portugal for the World Championship (WRC) count, their team announced. Loeb, 48, nine-time world champion and “piece” of the M-Sport Ford team in Portugal, experienced “Technical problem in ES11” And “He will retire for today.”M-Sport said on Twitter.
The day before, the Alsatian had already had to retire after hitting a safety wall in the SS5, when he was leading the rally. Sébastien Ogier (Toyota), the eight-time world champion who is self-employed with the Japanese manufacturer, was also boxed into the SS11. Gapençais, the world champion, fell into a ditch at a bend exit before he could get out of the Yaris unscathed as his assistant. After a few minutes, the 38-year-old freed his car from the side and managed to finish the special, but with too much delay. He then competed for SS12 but finally gave up during the technical hiatus after the first episode of the stages. “Although Ogier was able to return to the racing track and complete the morning stages, the decision was made to retire”Toyota explained. “Our day is over, unfortunately. The team will now fix the car and we will try to finish better tomorrow.”Ogier said on his Twitter account.
The day before, he had finished his day retiring after first punching in SS6 and then again in SS7. Ogier is the record holder for Rally Portugal victories with five successes, as Finn Markku Alén. Sebastian, who has won 17 of the 18 potential titles since 2004, has already given up the win on Portuguese soil. At the contested SS12 end in Amarante (North), Britain’s Elfyn Evans (Toyota) was in a leadership position ahead of other drivers from his team. He was 18.4 seconds ahead of Finland’s Kali Rovanpera and 1 minute 19 seconds ahead of Japan’s Takamoto Katsuta.
