However, his 5th consecutive success in the North American event was secured harder than expected, as teammate Sebastien Ogier put in quite a fight throughout the three days of running. In fact, Ogier was in pole position for his first win in Mexico at the start of Day 3, only for a crash in the opening stage to see him retiring from the event. At that time, he was 20 seconds ahead of Loeb in the rally classification, with a handful of stages to go.
Although happy with his result in Mexico, which lifted him to 2nd in the drivers standings, only 9 points behind leader Mikko Hirvonen, Loeb admitted he was not happy with how the event ended, saying his teammate did not deserve to go out of the rally the way he did.
“It was good but it was difficult,” said Loeb. “It was a very tight battle with him (Ogier) and he showed that he’s really, really fast. We had to push really hard to keep with his rhythm on the first day and then on the second day I tried to take the lead and to increase my lead but then I had my problem and he came back again.”
“My job is to fight and to win. It’s only the start of the season and we had to push. For sure I felt disappointed to see him like that because he didn’t deserve it. He had done a great race since the start. I was not happy for him, or for the team,” he added.
Additionally, he insisted that both him and Ogier will have equal chances for the title this season, as it's clear enough that both drivers want to win for Citroen.
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