Rally legend Ogier admits to struggles on WEC debut

The eight-time World Rally Championship title winner admitted that he struggled in the team’s Signatech-run Oreca 07 LMP2 at the Sebring 1000 Miles on March 18, which yielded 12th in class together with team-mates Charles Milesi and Lilou Wadoux.

“It has been a challenging one to be honest,” he told Motorsport.com. “I struggled a bit in the first stint; I wasn’t really comfortable in the car.

“It was a messy run unfortunately; the second one was a lot cleaner.”

Ogier’s first stint behind the wheel of the Oreca included an early stop for fresh tires after he flat-spotted the right front at the Turn 7 hairpin, as well as a brief brake fire.

“At Turn 7 with the bumps, I had a tendency to push a little bit too much on the brakes; I was a bit too aggressive,” he explained. “It was kind of learning for me.

“At least it is some good experience and I have to learn from this mistake.”

Ogier said the team was disappointed with its speed at Sebring.

“We were a bit off the pace where we would like to be,” he said. “Even Charles, who is a past reference in the category [as reigning champion with the WRT team], couldn’t show what he is capable of.

“We need to work and analyse and see where we can be faster.”

Ogier conceded he needed more time in the car after the new Richard Mille crew managed only three days of testing at Paul Ricard ahead of the official pre-season WEC Prologue test the weekend before the 1000 Miles.

Signatech boss Philippe Sinault stressed that Sebring was always going to be difficult for the Richard Mille line-up because all three drivers were new to the track.

“It was not easy with the totally new driver line-up to Sebring; we knew starting at Sebring was the worst case for them,” said Sinault.

What he described as “logistical problems” limited the crew’s pre-season testing, but he promised that the Richard Mille drivers would arrive at Spa for Round 2 of the WEC on May 7 in “better conditions”.