Olivier Quesnel: “The incident is closed”

L?abandon de Sébastien Ogier au rally of Mexico has caused a lot of ink to flow. Describing this incident as “stupid”, Olivier Quesnel affirms that the case is closed. “If he wants to become world champion, he will never get there if he continues like this” specifies the director of Citroën Racing. “I told him it was stupid, but also that the incident is closed. I want him to return to the highest level. I prefer to look to the future, Sébastien too. »

If Ogier?s abandonment is not necessarily penalizing in the constructors' ranking, it is less insignificant from the perspective of the driver's title. Sébastien's teammate Loeb already finds itself relegated to 31 points behind the leader, Mikko Hirvonen. “I'm disappointed for him because he's losing a lot of points, but that's his problem” saddens Olivier Quesnel. “Maybe it's the pressure, maybe it's a simple mistake or something else. But it?s a driver?s job to drive under pressure and there will be many other occasions when he?s faced with similar pressure. He has to deal with it. »

Find the summary of the Mexico rally in issue 1795 of AUTOhebdo, on sale this week on all newsstands.