Ogier: “I thought my tire choice was not optimal”

We can never say it enough, the choice of tires Rally Monte Carlo can win, or lose, the race. This Friday, on the roads around Gap, it was not the ice or snow that caused problems with tire management, but the conditions were softer than expected.

As a good manager he is on this parameter, Sébastien Ogier a pu reprendre l’avantage en fin d’étape sur son équipier chez Toyota Elfyn Evans, en étant à la limite de l’utilisation de sa monte pneu dans l’ultime secteur chronométré.

“With our information in the middle of the day, we thought that the first stage of the second loop was wet and that the second stage would have remained quite humid, Ogier explained last night.

But the sky cleared and the temperature rose, so it dried quite quickly. I was a little worried but I managed to manage my tires in the right way in the second SS, even in the dry.

I didn't have too much degradation, even with the super soft ones. And I was faster than my rivals, so it was a good surprise. On the last one at night, the tires were really at the end of their life. But I managed to finish, even if I lost a little on the last split because the tires were really smooth. »

Leading less than 2″ ahead of Evans and 6″ ahead of Thierry Neuville (Hyundai), Ogier pourrait encore faire parler sa science des pneus ce samedi sur les quatre ES au programme. De notre constat dans le parc d’assistance ce matin, les pneus clous sont de mise pour la première boucle. A voir qui les gèrera le mieux !