WRC
Sébastien Ogier will compete in the end of the WRC season!
© DPPI
The eight-time French world champion, who is currently 27 points behind Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) in the drivers' championship, had not initially planned to make all the trips at the end of the season. But as he explained to Motorsport Aktuell magazine, the situation in which the Japanese manufacturer finds itself in all rankings tends towards participation by the Frenchman, co-driven by Vincent Landais, until the end of the season.
« However, given the current situation of the constructors' and drivers' championships, it is clear that I will participate in the remaining four events of the WRC and that I will fight for the title again. NWe don't have all the cards in hand at the moment, and we are behind in both championships. In the Drivers' Championship I can still understand it, but not in the Constructors' Championship. »
The new points system, a “joke”
that Sébastien Ogier has difficulty understanding, this is how Toyota, which has dominated the WRC since the start of the season, mainly with its two part-time drivers, Ogier, and the reigning double world champion Kalle Rovanperä, can find itself twenty lengths behind Hyundai in the manufacturers' championship. A direct consequence, for the Frenchman, of the new points system in force this season, which rewards drivers three times, on Saturday evening, at the end of the day on Sunday, and after the Power Stage.
« Toyota has won six of the nine rounds of the WRC so far and secured three one-two finishes, but we are still 20 points behind. For me, this new points system is a complete joke”, he declared, not mincing his words, as always.
The Gapençais finally wanted to make one last thing clear. If he will ultimately participate in three-quarters of the current season, there is no question of him returning full time, or even taking part in such a busy schedule again in the future. The one who retired full-time at the end of the 2021 season has absolutely not changed his mind, and no longer wishes to invest as much as during a full season.
« JI don't care much about numbers, statistics or records. I have other priorities. I will drive as long as it makes me happy and I can still take part in rallies. And I want to make one thing clear: I will never participate in a full WRC season again. After this rather intense season, I might even do less next year. »
ALSO READ > POLL – Should Sébastien Ogier seek a 9th title and finish the 2024 season?
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Dave McCrash
15/08/2024 at 06:50 a.m.
Too bad for Thierry Neuville, it could have finally worked out for him this year. 😋
Yves-Henri RANDIER
15/08/2024 at 03:14 a.m.
“For me, this new points system is a real joke” ... the Gapençais is right. Perhaps he will make it a point of honor to become World Champion again for the 9th time, a little “unwittingly” to say it even more loudly!