Ogier calm despite not leading the points table
Sebastien Ogier has reached the mid-point of the World Rally Championship out of the lead for the first time in five years – and the Frenchman’s completely relaxed about the situation.
Last week’s Rally of Portugal was only the defending champion’s second no-score in 24 events. Lying fourth, Ogier damaged the steering on his Ford Fiesta WRC and retired on SS5. Running further up the order, he was then unable to secure any powerstage points in Sunday’s finale.
Asked about the 19-point difference between himself and Thierry Neuville, Ogier said: “You know what, I’m happy with that. It’s the first time I’m going to have somebody in front of me in Sardinia and maybe in Finland and that makes a big, big difference. Look where Craig [Breen] is here, he’s nowhere because he’s first on the road.
“But Sardinia is the tough one because normally there’s nearly no chance of any rain – so if it rains this year then I know I am really unlucky. For sure, this hasn’t been a successful operation this weekend and, of course, I would like the points, but the season is long and the performance is there. These are the positives, but a zero is never a good weekend.”
Ogier added that he was looking forward to watching Neuville running at the front of the field.
“We saw when he did it last time in Mexico he was nowhere,” he added. “But it’s good for other drivers to see how it is – like I said before, they normally say: ‘Ah, it’s Ogier, he’s complaining too much.’ Let’s see.”