Q&A: Sebastien Ogier
Rally Mexico was another winning weekend for Sebastien Ogier and his co-driver Julien Ingrassia.
Victory in Leon was their 18th at World Rally Championship level and moved the pair back into the lead in the drivers’ standings, three points clear of their Volkswagen team-mates Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila.
Here’s what Ogier had to say about his latest win:
Q: Your only objective coming here was to win, how satisfying is it to achieve that goal?
SO: “Of course, it was really satisfying for me. On Thursday, at the press conference, I told you I had one goal and that was to win the rally. We achieved it. I am really happy with that. What is important is to congratulate all the team. The Polo was fantastic for me. Nothing went wrong at all, no problems, strong and fast. A big thanks to everyone. With Julien we just had a good management of the race and took the lead quite early. We start second on the road and then we start to control the rally. Jari-Matti was also doing a good job and, at the end, we have a Volkswagen one-two and 18 wins for me."
Q: A tough weekend but you seemed to have an almost perfect run and with the last stage win you picked up 250 WRC stage wins!
SO: It was not so easy. There was a moment. It was a tricky one and it was very slippery conditions. It was not a mistake by me Saturday afternoon but there were rocks on the line and I was at speed on the limit and it was not too wide in this part and I could not avoid it. That is always happening here. I never remember a rally in Mexico with no rocks on the roads.
Q: You took maximum points on the Power Stage and now lead the Championship heading into Portugal. On Saturday night you teased Jari-Matti that you would not take the points and let him sweep the road in Portugal - he didn’t believe you and he was right not to! Was the plan always to go for as many points as possible?
SO: I was really thinking about it. I am a clever guy and I wanted to use every situation I could. I wanted to use this option. In Portugal, I thought that it might rain and that to open the road would be an advantage. But then I thought to lose four points here may be a bit stupid. I thought about it. I am certainly not afraid to open the road and I hope to go to Portugal and prove it.”