Sebastien Ogier says the pursuit of a ninth World Rally Championship title was behind a couple of gambles undertaken on his way to claiming a stunning Rally Paraguay victory.
The Toyota driver managed to fight back from dropping to eighth after a stage two puncture to power to a fourth win of the season. The result left Ogier only nine points adrift of championship leader Elfyn Evans with four rounds remaining, after sitting out three rounds.
Ogier, co-driven by Vincent Landais, were clearly the fastest pairing as Paraguay made its WRC debut, winning nine of the 19 gravel stages, but the victory didn’t come without some risk-taking.
After suffering the puncture, Ogier was without a spare wheel for the remaining two stages of the loop but threw caution to the wind, resulting in a stage win on the next test.
Ogier also opted to take only one spare wheel while his rivals took two for the Saturday afternoon loop. The gamble paid off as Ogier won two of the three stages and emerged with the rally lead after rival and long-time leader Kalle Rovanpera lost two minutes to a stage 14 puncture.
When asked about the gambles after the puncture, Ogier said: “From this [after stage two ] moment we had to go for it to keep going otherwise it was going to be a difficult weekend.
“We are here to try and win the championship, it is true, but I want to do it by winning rallies and not by just cruising around.
Sébastien Ogier, Vincent Landais, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photo by: Toyota Racing
“I think we were closing in and closing in and we knew on Saturday afternoon we could keep pressure on the lead and that is what we did. Generally, we were clearly the fastest this weekend and that is very positive and the only negative is this bad luck in the Power Stage, which cost us a lot of points actually.”
He added: “Of course, winning a championship when you are not competing in all the races we need the stars to align a lot for me and this weekend they were not completely aligned, but on my side I did everything I could.”
While proud of his performance, Ogier was initially frustrated when he crossed the finish line as a sudden heavy rain shower erased any opportunity of maximising his Super Sunday points haul. In the end, Ogier left with one bonus point.
“That [the win] is the main thing but of course the competitor that I am crossing the finish line and seeing that we lost a lot of points due to five minutes of rain that came mainly for us and also cost Adrien a podium,” he said.
“Of course, in the moment it is frustrating as you are close to a perfect weekend and on our side we gave everything we could and didn’t get rewarded, so I needed a bit of time.
“The most important thing is that we won the rally and we have been clearly the fastest of the weekend and that is very positive for the mission we have now for the rest of the season.”
Ogier is expected to contest at least three of the four remaining WRC rounds of the season.
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