Ogier gears up with another LMH test run

Rally legend Sebastien Ogier has undertaken a second test aboard the Toyota Le Mans Hypercar as he gears up for a move into endurance racing in 2022. The winner of eight World Rally Championship titles was at Motorland Aragon for the GR010 HYBRID’S first test of the year at the start of this week.

Ogier travelled to the Spanish track after finishing second in the Monte Carlo Rally WRC opener at the weekend to take part in a test that ran from Sunday to Tuesday. It followed his first run in the GR010 in last November’s official World Endurance Championship rookie test in Bahrain. But his programme on the race circuits and the rally stages this year is still a few weeks away from being confirmed.

He explained in Monte Carlo that he is “working on a plan right now and I think very soon, the beginning of February you will hear about it”. He added that “there is some work going on to be already at the Le Mans 24 Hours this year”.

Ogier’s race programme, which appears most likely to be in LMP2, will define how many WRC rounds in Toyota’s new GR Yaris he contests. The Monte was his only confirmed appearance as things stand.

A second run in the Toyota LMH shouldn’t be interpreted as a signal that the Japanese manufacturer will run a third car for Ogier at Le Mans in June. Toyota announced its 2022 motorsport programme late last year, including another two-car WEC campaign, and a spokesman said he could “confirm there is no change to the plans we announced in December”.

Toyota tested in Spain with a single car and five of its race drivers plus reserve Nyck de Vries. Only Kamui Kobayashi was missing: he took part in Sunday’s qualifying race for this weekend’s Daytona 24 Hours in an Action Express Cadillac, whereas Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez travelled back to Europe after testing on Friday and Saturday with the same team.