OGI ER: I DON’ T NEED ANY HELP TOCLAIM SEVENTH TITLE
Citroen’ s new star man say she won’ t rely on team-mate
Sebastien Ogier has insisted he doesn’t want number one status in the Citroen team this year – and he’d rather not rely on his team-mate Esapekka Lappi in his pursuit of a seventh straight world title.
Ogier returns to the French manufacturer having walked away from the Versailles squad following a row with Sebastien Loeb over team hierarchy in 2011. Citroen retained Loeb who won a ninth world title in 2012 before Ogier began his run of six straight championships.
The 35-year-old star told Motorsport News he had no interest in any preference among the two factory C3 WRCS.
He said: “I don’t want any number one status in the team – for me it has to be equal chance as long as we both have a chance to fight. If one driver has the chance and the other not then it’s logical to give some support in this direction, right now we start with the same chance.
“I’m happy to have Esapekka in the team, he’s a nice guy and definitely has some talent as well. And he can bring some interesting things from his old team [Toyota]. At the moment, I believe we can do what we have to do – there’s no reason to think this [team] won’t be performing well.”
For the first time last year, Ogier relied on help from his M-sport team-mates Elfyn Evans and Teemu Suninen to land the drivers’ title. But he’s keen to avoid that sort of scenario this time around.
Ogier added: “There was some times when I had some help from team-mates, that’s not the way I wanted it and it’s not the way I want to start the season thinking like this. My target is that I want to make it on my own and most of my career it was like this. Yes, there was a situation where I benefitted from some support from my colleagues and at least that was a little bit of giving back from what I have done in the same way [in previous years].”
Lappi, who has eight years, six titles and 43 world rally wins less than Ogier, is in no doubt about his place in the team – but also knows his hopes of avoiding team orders remain in his hands.
“It’s obvious who is number one and who is number two,” he said, before adding with a smile: “At least I’m not number three, which is already better. So far, I don’t know how Seb [Ogier] works but what I’ve discussed so far, he seems warm and a nice guy, but maybe he’s a different person in race mode.
“Later in the season, if it looks like I’m not on the fight for the overall standings, then it’s quite clear we will give space for him like M-sport did for him [last] year. It’s part of the game. But, if I’m leading on Monte and he’s behind, for sure I will not give him any space – we are on an equal level in the start of the season. It can’t be like that. I really believe there won’t be team orders.”
Both drivers completed their two-day Monte test last month and agreed the C3 WRC has potential.
Ogier’s primary concern with the car is a limited window of rally-winning opportunity.
He said: “So far the first test went OK. But, for sure, there is things we need to change better to my taste. It’s difficult to estimate how long it’s going to take to do that. This car showed great speed in some conditions last year, but if you check the overall result from last year and my first impression from the car is that it needs to be able to be fast in more conditions. It’s definitely fast on some conditions, but not on all and that’s what we need to improve.”