Loeb admits he needs to improve his race craft for touring cars

Sebastien Loeb says racecraft and refining setups are the main areas he needs to improve for his 2015 World Touring Car Championship campaign.

The nine-time World Rally champion focused entirely on circuit racing for the first time with his 2014 Citroen program. He had previously interspersed sports car races – including a full 2013 FIA GT season – around his WRC commitments.

Loeb briefly led the WTCC standings after a victory in the season-opening Marrakech event this year, but only won once more all season and slipped to a distant third in the standings behind Citroen team-mates Jose Maria Lopez and Yvan Muller.

Having been involved in several collisions during the year – including two with Muller – Loeb has admitted he needs to improve his judgment in wheel-to-wheel racing.

"If you check the results of this season, it is in race two that I lost a lot of points because I didn't overtake as many cars as Yvan, and especially Pechito [Lopez], who overtakes a lot," said Loeb. "My inexperience in racing is definitely quite important. Yvan has been racing since he was 10.

"I know the points where I have to work, but that is one of the most complicated things for me. To overtake at the right time and protect my place at the right time driving in traffic is an area I need to improve."

He also wants to better his car setup skills, having realized it is harder to make up for a handling deficit in circuit racing than was the case in rallying.

"It is much more important in the WTCC to adapt the setup of the car to all of the tracks," said Loeb. "In rallying you need a good setup, but if you have approximately a good setup you can manage to do the times.

"I had a lot of rallies where I started the first stage with a setup and then didn't touch anything until the end, just because I was feeling good, and I didn't care much about the setup."