Although he is a nine-time winner of the event and is racing at home, close to his hometown of Gap, "Monte Carlo will never be easy" remember Sébastien OgierThe eight-time world rally champion will take part in his 16th Rally Monte Carlo (14 in WRC, 2 in IRC), he who is the record holder for the number of victories in this event with nine successes (8 in WRC, 1 in IRC). However, despite all his experience and all his successes in the "Monte-Carl'", the Gapençais knows all the complexity of this emblematic round, in the Alpine cold with roads sometimes icy, sometimes snowy, sometimes dry or with mud on the apexes.
And in 2025, the difficulty will be even greater: between the arrival of Hankook as the sole manufacturer of the WRC, the withdrawal of the hybrid system, the lightening of Rally1 or even the new points scale, this 2025 Monte-Carlo Rally could reserve some surprises… good or bad. Even if he was able to try his hand at the wheel of the GR Yaris Rally1 without electric power and equipped with the new South Korean tires, Sébastien Ogier recognizes that this Monte-Carlo could be one of the most difficult given the many unknowns that persist before the start of the season.
Ogier, a Loeb record in sight
“It’s always very exciting for me to prepare for the Rallye Monte-Carlo and to continue my relationship with Toyota one more year, confides the tricolor, who is preparing to compete in his sixth season with the Japanese manufacturer and his fourth part-time season since his last title in 2021. I still have as much pleasure in driving for this fantastic team, with which I have stayed longer than any other in my career, and I hope to have even more fun in the car this year.
“With less power, less weight and new tyres, there are a lot of question marks at the start of the season, and it’s a new challenge for teams and drivers to see who can adapt best, underlines Sébastien Ogier, less than a week before the start of the 93rd edition of the Rallye Monte-Carlo. Even after many starts, this rally never gets easier and I always approach it with respect for the challenge and, in a way, with a bit of fear, because you know you will be faced with unpredictable conditions. It's about trying to manage the risk, even more than on other rallies."
In conditions that are expected to be difficult – with rain forecast in the Gap region on the weekend of 23 to 26 January – Sébastien Ogier will also have to adapt to the new features on the Yaris: to compensate for the lack of power provided by the hybrid, Toyota has made changes to the exhaust system and camshafts while the gearbox gear ratio has been revised to optimise the whole. The driver, who is aiming for a tenth victory on the Rallye Monte-Carlo, will certainly be the big favourite for this 93rd edition. In the event of victory on Sunday 26 January, he would equal the record for the number of victories on a single rally in the WRC, which still belongs to Sébastien Loeb (9 victories in the Rally of Germany and the Rally of Catalonia).
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Simon b
19/01/2025 at 11:02 a.m.
He's not crying yet, but his eyes are already wet! 🤣🤣
Rotax
18/01/2025 at 10:10 a.m.
Ogier's opinion does not interest intelligent people.