Jean-Joseph: “Croatia will be a complicated rally”

What? Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia will they have to do in Croatia?

I think the 2021 edition uses kilometers that we did in 2007 and it looks very fast and very slippery. We were already going fast with our “carts” so I imagine what it will be like with the Rally1s! There are also different types of tarmac and this can even occur when entering and exiting a corner, which means that reading the grip is really not easy. 

Will the role of the openers still be essential?
It will perhaps be a little less complicated than in Monte-Carlo, but despite everything I have no illusions! With two passages through special stages, the rain which is forecast, the ropes which will be caught and which will dirty the road… it will still be very difficult!

From a personal point of view, has this ordeal had an impact on you?
We competed in the European Championship with the C2 Super 1600 from Citroën Sport. There weren't many rallies where we could aim for victory against 4WD and Croatia was one of them. Our start to the race had been ideal. We were in the lead when in SS3 I punctured like a big...beta! I can still hear Jack Boyère, my co-pilot, announcing to me the “no rope”… where I actually went!

I still blame myself because we could have won. We obviously plunged in the ranking (19th, 2min18s behind the future winner, editor's note) and we had to work hard to get back up. I think we finally snatched the podium in the last special from Michal Solowow's Punto S2000 (for 1s6! Editor's note). This race stuck with me for a long time. I had made a terrible mistake there! We still managed to win the title at the end of the year by one point, thanks in particular to this podium.