WRC – Wales Rally GB: Sébastien Ogier triumphs, Thierry Neuville vice-champion

" This rally hasn't been successful for me in the past, and my teammate (Jari-Matti Latvala. Editor’s note) feels at home there. I am really happy. Once again I have to thank the team because the car was perfect this weekend. » At the finish of this Rally of Great Britain, the joy felt by Sébastien Ogier was not pretended. The Gapençais and his sidekick Julien Ingrassia won this afternoon in Wales a ninth victory this season. With 11 successes in 2008, alone Loeb did better.

Since yesterday, the new French world champion has been working to maintain the gap separating him from Jari-Matti Latvala. However, this did not prevent him from being the fastest today in SS17, SS20 and SS21, showing his Finnish teammate that he could not come and get him. The other special stages of the day, namely SS18, SS19 and SS22 were respectively won by Mads Ostberg, Thierry Neuville and Jari-Matti Latvala. The latter, by finishing 21”8 behind his leader, gave VW Motorsport a double… but showed frustration at the finish at not having been able to achieve a third consecutive success in this event.

In third row, we find Thierry Neuville. The Belgian from Qatar M-Sport WRT, only 25 years old, once again showed himself to be brilliant, reaching his 7th podium this season and thereby winning the title of vice-world champion. To the acclamations of his fan club, the Belgian and his co-driver and compatriot Nicolas Gilsoul looked like they were good at the stop point of SS22: “I’m super happy, he said, not content with adding a victory in the Power Stage to that. Discovering a new car (Ford Fiesta RS WRC. Editor’s note) and a new team (Qatar M-Sport WRT. Editor’s note), we didn't expect so much. But Nicholas (Gilsoul. Editor’s note) and I worked a lot to get there…” The Belgian can leave Malcolm Wilson's stable with a feeling of accomplishment. Main team of Hyundai Motorsport, Michel Nandan must be smiling today. He managed to attract a major recruit to his nets for the seasons to come.

Ogier's ninth victory and Neuville's title of vice-world champion, these are the two essential pieces of information to remember from the 2013 edition of the Rally of Great Britain, whose top 5 is completed by a reinvigorated Mads Ostberg and a Andreas Mikkelsen still very inconsistent.

On the other hand, we regret having seen too little of the unfortunate Pole Robert Kubica, victim of two accidents in SS4 and SS11. We will generally regret the nightmarish weekend experienced by Citroën Racing which, after Kubica, saw Mikko Hirvonen make a mistake in this same SS4. Finally, in the French clan, only Dani Sordo will have seen the finish. Yes, but there you have it, the Spaniard was given a 5-minute penalty before the start of SS1 was even given! This contrasts with previous seasons. The shadow of Sébastien Loeb has hovered over Citroën Racing which will try to console itself with the titles won by Robert Kubica and Sébastien Chardonnet in WRC 2 and WRC 3. It's easy, but only one person misses you and everything is depopulated. The French team suffered, with Mikko Hirvonen and Dani Sordo who did not meet the expectations placed on them. Let's hope that in 2014, Yves Matton and his men will manage to raise the bar in order to give VW Motorsport as much trouble as possible... But with Sébastien Ogier in a state of grace, the mission promises to be very difficult.