The start of the fire that affected the Ford Puma of the pilot Pierre Loubet was caused by “an exhaust problem”, explained the Frenchman at the end of the morning section of the first day of the 56th edition of the Rally de Portugal.
Loubet, who was the first leader of the race after winning the opening special, in Lousã, reached the end of the third stage of the race, in Arganil, with the start of a fire in the rear of his Ford Puma, quickly resolved by the butlers there gifts using fire extinguishers.
“We heard a strange sound two kilometers from the end [da especial], which got worse. Unfortunately we had a fire on the exhaust side. Let’s see, we don’t have a service park. No repairs possible. Let’s see what we can do during the afternoon”, declared the French pilot to the microphones of the organization (WRC).
Loubet finished the morning in sixth position, 18.8 seconds behind the leader, Estonian Ott Tänak (Ford Puma), his M-Sport teammate, dropping three positions in the last special of the morning.
The Rally de Portugal got underway this Friday, with the dispute of the first three of the 19 stages scheduled until Sunday.
Source: TSF
