Julien Ingrassia: “There is no question of leaving without the title”

Entirely focused on preparing for the Spanish rally where he could obtain an 8th world title, the Frenchman agreed to make an exception by interrupting his meticulous work to explain his decision to end his career. Looking back at its beginnings, it also touches on its future.

Published on 16/10/2021 à 17:00

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Julien Ingrassia: “There is no question of leaving without the title”

Julien Ingrassia will end his career at the end of the season. Photo Grégory Lenormand / DPPI

How are you ?

(Laughs). It's a special week. We had just come out of Finland, which is always an event full of emotion, and we had to immediately refocus on Catalonia (October 14-17. Editor’s note) where there will be the title to play. This is also the priority. During these few days between these two events, all the teams communicated and I announced that I was going to stop. Whether we like it or not, whether we are prepared or not, this inevitably created a little stir.

Does it feel weird to have revealed it and everyone knows?

We are still humans and we are sensitive to these things. This is all the more true since with social networks today, things flared up… and it came back down the next day. For two days, I received a lot of messages. I tried to answer right away, because if I had pushed back, I wouldn't have done it. So yes, it was a special week in a career, but there (Interview conducted Saturday October 9), je me suis remis dans mes n