The Frenchman led the rally after winning Friday’s opening stage although drama struck at the of stage three when his Ford Puma developed a fire.
At the time Loubet and co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul detected a burning smell but were initially unable to locate the issue. A frustrated Loubet thought his rally was over at this point.
However, Loubet was able to get the issue under control to reach the midday tyre fitting zone where two M-Sport mechanics were able to investigate the problem. It was determined that the car’s exhaust had moved out of alignment and was touching the bodywork which triggered the fire.
Under the regulations the team could only fix the problem with items carried inside the car. Incredibly the problem was able to be fixed after mechanics resorted to brute force to move the exhaust back into place, allowing Loubet to end Friday sitting fourth, 0.9s adrift of third-placed Thierry Neuville.
“It has been a tough day and bit of emotion I would say with the fire, and I was pretty sure it was the end of the rally,” Loubet told Autosport.
“We were lucky to be able to go back to the small service and the guys did a fantastic job just the two of them.
“They pushed quite hard but it is a bit of a shame that in rallying today we don’t have many services on such a long day like this."
Source: Autosport