Sébastien Loeb: "Everything turned out fine"

Dakar 2022 | Stage 1 | ALULA > AL HENAKIYAH
January 2 ^nd 2022 - 16:15 [GMT + 3]

Loeb's wide tyres did not save him from two punctures, but he put in a solid performance in second place.

"It really wasn't simple, we messed up and started with two punctures before the neutralisation. There was no room for error in the second part. Then Nasser caught up with us, I was keeping it cool behind him. It was a bit easier with fewer rocks, so I thought we could keep going at a high pace and we made it to the finish in much better shape than at the neutralisation. Both Nasser and Matthieu are strong. You can see it from behind them. They can afford to take shortcuts and return to the track at high speed. It's quite the sight. It's only the first stage, and it wasn't even singled out as being especially difficult. I think we need to stay focused. Things are going well with Fabian, we're making few mistakes and, although we ended up following Nasser, I think he would've done well. The first part of the day dented our confidence, but everything turned out fine."