Ogier: “We no longer had the right to make mistakes”

Sébastien Ogier relaunched himself in the title race by winning his 3rd victory of the season at the Rally of Türkiye. The six-time champion WRC also benefited from the poor performances of his opponents for the title, Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) and especially Ott Tänak (Toyota).

“This victory really comes at the best time for us, because we no longer had the right to make any mistakes at the end of the season, comments the Citroën driver who hooked the Rally of Türkiye to his list of achievements. We went to Turkey knowing clearly that we needed to score big points to stay in contention for the title, and we did. The C3 WRC proved reliable and consistent, two essential parameters on this rally with extreme conditions given both its temperatures and the profile of its special stages, the most difficult of the season. »

Citroën also scored a double with second place taken by Esapekka Lappi, enough to motivate the Reds team at the end of the year.

“After good tests in Greece, we found good sensations from the start of the rally, confirms the Gapençais. We built our weekend well, with a gradual build-up which allowed us to be well placed after the first day, then to take advantage of this position to continue this momentum and take the lead on Saturday. The misadventures of our competitors also played a role, since they left us alone in the lead with Esapekka. From there, we knew of course that we were not going to attack each other, but to strive to secure this double for Citroën. »

Sébastien Ogier now hopes to take advantage of this good momentum to regain his 17-point deficit on Ott Tänak with three rounds remaining.

“I am happy to offer the team this victory, which represents a great operation for the championship and which will be an additional boost for the end of the season, specifies the former pilot M-Sport. However, we do not forget what our final objective is and we are all aware that there is still a lot to do to achieve it. We will enter the three remaining rallies with the same goal as in Turkey and the duty to fight at the front to continue our rise to the championship. »

Discover the analysis of the Rally of Turkey carried out by our special correspondent in issue 2234 of AUTOhebdo, available now in digital version on all platforms and on newsstands this Wednesday.