WRC – Sébastien Ogier found the cure in Portugal

Sébastien Ogier was again impressive Rally from Portugal. While he had to cancel his participation in the Fafe Rally Sprint due to illness, the Volkswagen driver feared not being able to be at the start of the fourth event of the season. The Championship leader ultimately did much more than just make up the numbers since he escaped to the lead of the race after his direct rivals Mads Ostberg and Dani Sordo made a mistake. The French driver experienced one last misery in the last stage suffering from a clutch problem, but the Polo R driver WRC was nevertheless able to continue and it was with a new perfect score that he left Portugal before meeting up with his old rival Sébastien Loeb in Argentina next month.

" Amazing ! It was a real roller coaster here in Portugal! », exclaimed the winner of the event who now has 54 points over his closest opponent Mikko Hirvonen, second in the Rally of Portugal with almost a minute behind. “I’m like crazy with this victory. First there was my illness, then the very tough special stages in which I was really at the limit. We then had a problem with the transmission in the first special of the last stage and I said to myself: “That's it Seb, the rally is over. » Fortunately, we were able to reach the service park and the team did a superb job there. We deserved this victory. The event was really demanding and difficult for the car, the team and myself. I wasn't even sure I would be able to start when I arrived in Portugal on Monday evening. I was tired all the time and my batteries were dead. I could drive because the body runs on adrenaline in those moments but I was clearly not in the best shape. Fortunately, it's been a lot over the last two days. I will try to regain my strength before attacking Argentina. »

Discover the analysis of the Rally of Portugal carried out by our special correspondents in the next issue of AUTOhebdo, available tomorrow in digital version for iPad and for the first time on Android. The magazine will be on sale on newsstands from Wednesday.