Sébastien Ogier: “The grip was very low on the first pass”

Winner on Mexican tracks in 2018, Sébastien Ogier found a rally who has succeeded in recent years, but at the wheel of his new Citroën C3. A “discovery” which resulted in a first stage mastered by the reigning world champion, leader before the special stages of the second stage this Saturday.

Pourtant, la tâche pour le tandem Ogier – Ingrassia n’a pas été des plus simples sur des routes qui ont notamment piégé Teemu Suninen (M-Sport Ford) ou encore vu les abandons d’Andreas Mikkelsen et Dani Sordo (Hyundai), Thierry Neuville being the victim of a puncture on SS2.

“Starting third on the road was not ideal and the grip was very weak on the first pass [… ] but I took pleasure in being able to benefit from traces, underlines Ogier. It was important to place well on Friday, to approach the longest day of racing on Saturday with a good starting order.

However, it will now be necessary to use it well and also be careful because I expect some particularly tricky, narrow and even brittle portions. »

Ogier possède une quinzaine de secondes d’avance sur Elfyn Evans (M-Sport Ford), qui précède les deux Toyota by Kris Meeke and Ott Tänak. Neuville remains sixth, more than a minute behind the Frenchman.

The Rally of Mexico will resume at 15:23 p.m. this Saturday, and will once again be followed live via our live-text.