Sébastien Ogier will be at the start of the Acropolis Rally

Time to take a step back from the WRC has not yet come for Sébastien Ogier. After his 10^e victory at Monte Carlo in January, he took a break, missing trips to Sweden and Kenya.

Although it wasn't originally planned, he still went to the Canary Islands, then he launched into the trio of slow European rounds on gravel that occupy the spring. Winner in Portugal for the 7^e time, he will soon be in Olbia in Italy. On this event which is the one where he has participated the most in WRC (16^e departure in 2025), he will try to break the team's hegemony Hyundai who is undefeated there since 2022. Having come within 0 seconds of victory 2 months ago due to a puncture in the Power Stage, the Haut-Alpin knows that the task will be complicated this year because of his third position on the road.

In the process, Sébastien has already revealed that he will then go to Greece to take part in the 69^e edition of the rally of the Acropolis (June 26-29). Held north of Athens, this round is surprisingly one of those where the eight-time world champion has had the least success. He has only one victory (in 2011 with Julien Ingrassia in a Citroën DS3 WRC) in 7 participations, which is an unusual feature in his record. Will he manage to add another success after 17 special stages and 345,76 km of timed stages?

What seems certain is that he will miss the fast gravel events in Estonia and Finland. This will not be a surprise since he announced at the beginning of the year that he did not want to race as much as last year when he did 10 events. The end of the season is more uncertain. Will Sébastien be at the start of Paraguay (August 28-31) and Saudi Arabia (November 27-30) where his ability to manage new events will undoubtedly be useful to his team? After the Acropolis, he will have plenty of time to think about what comes next, because his potential next trip could be to South America.