Sebastien Ogier maintains he was faster than his teammate Sebastien Loeb on the second round of the World Rally Championship, despite crashing his Citroen DS3 WRC on the final day of Rally Mexico.
Loeb went on to win the Leon-based event after Ogier dropped out of their thrilling battle on the final morning, when he slid wide, hit some rocks and damaged the front-left corner of his DS3 WRC.
Ogier said: "I was pushing hard, I had to clean the road and I wanted to stay in the fight, it can happen. I played the game and this time I lost.
"I'm sure that, this weekend, I was faster than him compared to my road position. I was still in the fight. With the same conditions [as Loeb] I think I could be faster than him so that is good, but for me the season is still very long. So I've got a lot of motivation to continue to push, there are still 11 rallies left."
Ogier added that dropping to sixth in the championship offered him a better chance on the opening day than Loeb, who runs second on day one in Faro.
"Now we have a good starting position and I will be in the perfect position to manage my race in Portugal," concluded Ogier.