Sébastien Ogier and Dani Sordo, two big losers of the morning in Japan

Rally1 à s’élancer, Dani Sordo a soudain poussé un cri, puis il a immobilisé sa Hyundai i20 Rally1 au milieu de la chaussée. Il s’en est ensuite suivi une horrible scène durant laquelle l’Espagnol et son copilote ont essayé sans succès d’éteindre l’incendie. Plus d’une heure plus tard, l’auto se consumait toujours lorsque les pompiers sont enfin arrivés… « It smelled like gasoline in the car., explained Dani after returning to the audience. It was very difficult to breathe. My eyes were watering. Around the 16th^e kilometer, there were suddenly flames in the passenger compartment. We immediately stopped and tried to stop the fire. There must have been a leak somewhere, because it (the fire) kept starting again. It was a little scary and above all very sad to see our car burn like that. We had to wait an hour and ten minutes before the firefighters arrived, but it was already far too late. »

Dani Sordo will not have gone far in this event (Nikos Katikis / DPPI

While Dani Sordo could turn his attention to the next season, another incident affected the provisional leader of the race. "I really don't know what happened. explained Sébastien Ogier. I saw nothing, felt nothing… We had a flat tire and immediately looked for a place to change the wheel. We had trouble putting the jack on and time flew by.

When I look at the tire, I don't understand, because there is no mark. The rim is intact... but there is a small hole. When we left, Craig Breen was coming. It was so tight that we almost touched each other. We were in front of him and as our race was already over, I tried to find a space to let him pass… and it wasn't easy! With so much delay, our rally is less necessarily exciting. This will give us the opportunity to work well with Vincent (Landes his new co-pilot) while remaining present for the team. »

Pushed back to 14^e place, Ogier is however only a big minute from 7^e. A small consolation certainly, but a perfectly achievable goal.

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