WRC Rally Spain
Ogier “never changed so much” to find Rally Spain sweet spot
Sebastien Ogier says he’s “never changed so much on a car during a rally” to overcome set-up issues that have plagued his World Rally Championship victory hopes in Spain.
Tom Howard
Edited: Oct 16, 2021, 11:54 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The seven-time world champion headed into the penultimate round of the season motivated to wrap up an eighth world title, with Spain’s tarmac roads reducing the impact of being the roadsweeper on the opening day.
Ogier can secure the championship if he outscores his Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans by six points.
However, the Frenchman has struggled for confidence in his Yaris and with Pirelli’s new hard compound tyres, resulting in wholesale set-up changes throughout Friday and Saturday, which have finally yielded results.
Ogier managed to pick up two stage wins during Saturday afternoon to move into a comfortable third, edging closer to second-placed Evans and Hyundai’s runaway rally leader Thierry Neuville.
“It was a tough first half of the rally for us,” said Ogier. “We have been working a lot on the car and now I am starting to feel better. I have never changed so much on a car during a rally, but at least we have finally found better pace.
"It is the first time we have driven these configuration of roads in the Yaris. In the end, it looks like the test we did was not great because it was not representative of what we have here."
Following the morning loop of stages, Ogier’s third place had come under threat from Hyundai’s Dani Sordo, who closed to within 0.2s.
Equipped with a more suitable set-up, Ogier managed to pull almost seven seconds clear of Sordo only for a stall on the day's final spectator stage reduced his advantage to only 1.2s.
"The engine stalled, no idea why,” he added. “I was on the clutch like normal then in a hairpin it just stalled. We know that on this kind of stage this can happen.
“It is a shame, we had a great afternoon but at least we have finally found a car that suits me and the pace is there.
“We managed to make seven seconds this afternoon but we dropped it all on this last Mickey Mouse stage, so it is all to be done again, but I’m confident it is possible with that car now.”
Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota Yaris WRC
Photo by: Toyota Racing
Evans frustrated set-up swing backfired
While Ogier’s set-up changes reignited his rally, Evans’ efforts to tweak his Yaris to close the gap to leader Neuville failed, leaving the title hopeful frustrated.
Evans led the rally up until Stage 4 on Friday and headed into Saturday, 0.7s adrift of leader Neuville.
Evans was unable to match Neuville’s pace on Saturday, and in a bid to fight for the lead, a series of set-up changes had the adverse effect, placing the Welshman 16.4s adrift in second heading into Sunday.
“I’m not happy to be honest. It's not what we wanted,” said Evans. “I didn't feel ultimately that comfortable this morning but it was even worse this afternoon.
“It’s fair to say we did improve some areas where we were struggling, but I lost the general balance of the car as a result. Obviously, we had try something but it didn’t work out today.
“We are fighting for fine margins and we trying to improve all the time especially in these dirty areas we seem to be losing a lot running further back on the road, he added when asked why he chose to tinker with the car set-up.
Evans, is however, on course to take the title fight to the final round in Monza if he finishes ahead of Ogier on Sunday.
Read Also:
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article WRC to introduce new Artificial Intelligence camera to improve safety
Next article Spain WRC: Neuville closing in on victory as Ogier loses third
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Tom Howard
M-Sport’s 2027 WRC Fiesta Kit car breaks cover
WRC
WRC
M-Sport’s 2027 WRC Fiesta Kit car breaks cover
Adrien Fourmaux confident of WRC drive despite 2027 uncertainty
WRC
WRC
Adrien Fourmaux confident of WRC drive despite 2027 uncertainty
Latest news
F2 rebuffs suggestion its title race might be over because of the Iran war
FIA F2
F2 FIA F2 1 min
F2 rebuffs suggestion its title race might be over because of the Iran war
Max Verstappen on GTWC Europe debut: “We’re here to win”
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance
WCEE GT World Challenge Europe Endurance 9 h
Max Verstappen on GTWC Europe debut: “We’re here to win”
How to watch NASCAR at Phoenix II: Weekend schedule, start time, entry list, TV
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
9 h
How to watch NASCAR at Phoenix II: Weekend schedule, start time, entry list, TV
Ryan Ellis signs multi-year NASCAR O'Reilly deal with Alpha Prime Racing
NASCAR O'Reilly
NOAP NASCAR O'Reilly
Phoenix II
9 h
Ryan Ellis signs multi-year NASCAR O'Reilly deal with Alpha Prime Racing
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe