Sébastien Ogier, the French patient

Sébastien Ogier would have rather liked to play for the podium on this last day of the Rally of Jordan but circumstances decided otherwise. The Citroën Junior Team driver first encountered a power unit problem, a setback which caused him to leave service five minutes late. Consequence: 50 second penalty.

Then, to counter Ford's strategy, that of Citroën sent Sébastien Ogier first on the Jordanian roads. In order to allow Sebastien Loeb to benefit from a cleaner road, the young Frenchman therefore sacrificed himself, taking an eight-minute penalty for having clocked in eight minutes ahead at the start of SS14, in order to start first.

From then on, Sébastien Ogier only had to ensure his passages, in order to move up from eighth to sixth place, gradually catching up with Kimi Räikkönen and Federico Villagra. “ In our position the roads were very slippery », Confided along the way the former Junior World Champion, weakened by a difficult night. “ I'm not in great shape. I'm just trying not to make mistakes. There is no reason to go quickly. It?s yet another new experience to ride in front. »

If he has already shown a lot of good things in WRC, Sébastien Ogier sometimes has to put aside his ambition in order to respond to team strategy, like this Saturday. In the shadow of Sébastien Loeb, the one about whom Olivier Quesnel said a few weeks ago that? “ he has teeth that scratch the floor » progresses step by step, gaining a little more scope after each race weekend.

At the end of the Jordan Rally, the Citroën Junior Team driver is delighted with his performance. Even if he was not able to join the fight for the podium, he showed his consistency in his times. “ We had a very good weekend, achieving great performances without making any mistakes., confirms Ogier. We are progressing rally after rally. I am very happy with the general progress of our race. We proved that we were capable of fighting at the forefront. »