Sébastien Ogier: “We didn’t steal it”

Be honest: you're not going to miss these tenths of beatings, once you retreat from WRC at the end of the year as you announced?

There are definitely things I will miss. My main wish is to have more free time. However, I am thinking of doing a few rallies anyway, because I will need the adrenaline, but there is no set plan at the moment.

Where did you find this anger to reverse a situation that was going badly?

Willpower is never what we lack. To be honest, I didn’t really believe it! Above all, I wanted to push to secure 2nd place and grab as many points as possible in the Power Stage. I thought it would be very difficult to dislodge Elfyn who had had a great time in the morning. However, the conditions were very complicated and anything could happen. Once again, we did well to believe in it and not give up. Over the whole weekend, it seems to me that we didn't steal it, because we performed well.

You were slowed down by several punctures. What does this inspire you?

Success was not with us. After the puncture on Friday morning, we had two more on Saturday and I was glad to have played it safe by taking two spare wheels. Once again, three punctures are too many. It’s annoying, because for me it’s not acceptable. I had already announced at Monte-Carlo that there was work to be done to avoid it being a lottery at this level of the competition. At the moment, not much is happening. I hope Pirelli will react as quickly as possible.

How much did the traffic accident on Sunday morning affect the handling of your Rally1?

Despite the force of the impact, overall there was nothing very serious. In our misfortune, we can consider ourselves lucky that the impact took place right in the middle of the car, on a strong point. The running gear was not affected, nor the rollbar, but it didn't matter much. The aerodynamics, on the other hand, have clearly lost their effectiveness on these circuit-type specials. This kind of mishap on the connection has never happened to me before.

What will you remember from this ordeal? Do you think the WRC should return to Croatia in the future?

The stages offered us a fantastic challenge with a lot of changes in grip. It was so unpredictable! In the car, it's really fun. On the other hand, I don't want to know what rally in the rain, because I think it would be Holiday on Ice!

Two victories in three rallies, including one where your chances were reduced, it’s an ideal start to the season…

Having already scored 30 points twice, which is rare today, there is not much to improve or a small mistake on the snow which keeps us away from a battle where the position on the road had already been sentenced.