Sébastien Ogier: “Be very attentive”

Sébastien Ogier (Citroen C4 WRC) achieved the best time of the shakedown this Thursday, a few hours before the first special of the Rally from Portugal. But the Frenchman, far from being pleased with this result, knows that he must remain very wary, in particular because of the surface of the roads taken this Thursday.

« The roads were not very representative of the rest of the route, advances the 2008 Junior World Champion. It was very slippery with a big change in the surface over the passages. Even if the Rally of Portugal is one of the rare events that we repeat with the C4 WRC, we will continue at the pace that we have had for a few rallies. »

But, week after week, the French driver confirms his progress towards the heights of World Rallying. Although he is happy with this linear progression, Sébastien Ogier does not want to put pressure on himself. “ Over the past few races, we have become more and more confident, the results have been getting better and better. We try to do a little more, that allows us to take more risks, to attack more. Until today, it's paying off but we have to stay calm, we must not get carried away. Continuing at this pace would be very good. »

While we could imagine a fight between Sébastien Loeb and Mikko Hirvonen, other drivers are fighting for victory this season. Starting with Sébastien Ogier, who impressed several times at the start of the year. “ It's true that we are ahead of the objectives we set for ourselves this season. At the start, we said to ourselves that if we made top 5s, that was good. It was very good if we made podiums. Today, we are ahead of that by telling ourselves that it is good to make podiums, and that it will be very good the day we have a victory. But this is not a fixation for the moment. »