Favourite stages week: Loeb is The Mountain man

For a man born and brought up on asphalt rallying, it might come as a surprise to discover Sebastien Loeb’s favourite stage is The Mountain on Rally Norway. Until you drive it, that is.

The Mountain is an astonishing test, the northern-most on the Rally Norway route, which varies from the fast and flowing to slower, more technical sections - and when the World Rally Championship’s in town it’s always pure snow and ice. Despite his love for the stage, Loeb’s record on the 24-kilometer test is two wins from four stage starts.

He says: “The Mountain stage in Norway is my favourite. It’s fast, but not everywhere, some places it’s tight and twisty. You drive this stage a bit like its on gravel - you do this with most snow stages. You have to throw the car before the corner and then you slide a lot. The snow banks in The Mountain are always good and big - you could lose the car in them! They’re also very nice security if you are sliding too much.

“When the road condition is full of ice you can use your own line, especially when first on the road - this is when The Mountain is at its best. There are never ruts or gravel on the side of the road, it means you take even more risks than normal and you can drive how you want and it’s somewhere that your driving can make the difference.

“You can push 120 per cent on this stage and if you are too fast, you can use the [snow] bank and get away with it. I always like this stage the first time through, but sometimes on the second run at the stage, I don’t like it - you get the ruts coming and it’s really not so nice. The grip starts to change, and then you can’t slide the car because it’s jumping out of the ruts or moving about - I don’t like this so much.”