Sébastien Loeb Racing – FIA World RX – Silverstone 25-27 May 2018

This weekend Sébastien Loeb Racing continuing learning the ropes in the FIA World Rallycross Championship in the Speedmachine Festival on the iconic Silverstone circuit in England. Grégoire Demoustier was back at a circuit he knows well as he had already driven there during the pre-season tests. At the end of the fourth round of the championship, the Belgian left Silverstone feeling that he had done a good job as he put on a good performance in qualifying, which was proof of the progress made by the whole team since the start of the season.

Summary

Demoustier had a good qualifying session as he was always in the mix in the battle for the lead of the second round in which he took part from Q1 to Q4. His performances netted him 14th place in Q4 out of a field of 23 cars, most of which were driven by rallycross specialists.

Grégoire Demouster (Sébastien Loeb Racing driver): “I had a great weekend at Silverstone. I knew the circuit thanks to the pre-season tests. We made good progress from a technical point of view in this race. I also drove pretty well and we were fighting at the front in Q2 and Q4 in particular. We finished in fourteen place in Q4, which is a really good performance compared to the aims we set ourselves at the start: we’re getting closer to the semi final. I’m really happy with this weekend as we’re continuing to progress in the right direction. We’re pursuing the development of the Peugeot 208 WRX that’s still running like a dream.”
Team story

>From Mettet to Lohéac by way of Silverstone and Riga, Greg opens the doors of Sébastien Loeb Racing to you by spotlighting a member of his team race after race. This weekend it’s the turn of the chief mechanic of the Peugeot 208 WRX, Yannick Philippe.

“As in Belgium I wanted to spotlight a member of the Sébastien Loeb Racing team and I’ve chosen Yannick, my car chief, who’s going to explain what he does to you. He really made a huge effort even before the season began to make sure the car was ready in time. I didn’t know him before this year, but we got on like a house on fire right from the first time we met. He’s a mechanic who’s really driven; who gives an enormous amount and wants things to work perfectly. I have to admit that at the start it wasn’t very easy to make him smile. But as soon as I got to know him I realised that he’s got a sense of humour. Maybe his behaviour expresses his Alsatian side!”

Crédit Photos : Patrick Bouzerki

Yannick Philippe (Grégoire Demoustier’s car chief in Sébastien Loeb Racing): “Let me introduce myself. My name’s Yannick and I’m thirty-one years old. I’ve been working in motor sport for ten years and I’ve been part of Sébastien Loeb Racing for two-and-a-half years. Before that I was with Hyundai in the WRC as a mechanic, with Dani Sordo in particular. I acquired very useful experience in this team as I learned how to build a car from scratch. It was also the case for Greg’s Peugeot 208 WRX at Sébastien Loeb Racing. I did a lot of work in rallies and a little on circuits too so the WRX is a good compromise as you find the advantages of both branches of motor sport. The biggest advantage in rallycross is that we’re really in the thick of the action. We can see the heats and we often have the car with us under the tent. It’s the opposite in the WRC where we work on the car three times a day and we spend the rest of the time just looking at the times of our drivers on a computer. At the races I manage a team of two mechanics and a tyreman. My job is to ensure that the car is always ready and clean and that the driver feels good in it. When Greg feels confident in the car it means we’ve done our job right and he can really go pedal to the metal and set good times. It’s very pleasant to work with him as he’s always in a good mood and motivated. This weekend went off well and we were even able to wear our sunglasses throughout the meeting. It was the world upside down as it was fine in England and we had snow in Portugal!”