Sebastien Ogier is not searching for excuses to explain the lack of his performance in Spain, but he admits that the preparations and the set-up of Yaris were not the ideal for this event.
The French driver finished fourth overall at Rally Spain, but his weekend was not perfect as he was struggling with the setup of his Yaris and he had to do many changes to it through the last weekend.
In fact he reported understeer at the end of Stage 1 while his car was not stable enough in the cuts resulting in losing the rear of his Yaris.
It must be mentioned that he was in third position overall at the end of Saturday, but he lost his position from Dani Sordo who was fastest than the first one in all Sunday stages.
"Unfortunately, our set-up was far from perfect at the start of the rally", Ogier said.
"There were several reasons for that, and first of all the fact that we had never driven on this kind of road with the Yaris WRC, as this rally was not on the calendar last year.
"Also, our preparation was not ideal, as our test obviously didn’t cover all the types of roads used during the race.
"We performed well in the smoothest and cleanest sections, but the car lacked stability on the roads where corners needed to be cut, of which there were more than in the past.
"And even if we finally found a good set-up on Saturday at midday service, we still lacked speed afterwards.
"I’m not looking for excuses.
"In motorsport, you win and lose together and so I have my share of responsibility as well.
"I just consider that the Ogier-Toyota package wasn’t fast enough compared to our rivals.
Finally, he is referring to his fight with Dani Sordo on the final day of Rally Spain: "Maybe I could have been faster if I had taken more risks, but in my position I have to give priority to the championship.
"This has been the approach again throughout this rally, including in the Power Stage, where conditions were tricky and changed rapidly due to the rain.
"When you're leading the championship, it’s better to be too careful than not careful enough and I still think this was the perfect strategy again this weekend.
"We had a 24-point lead before the start, it’s now still 17 points before the last round, so this means that our position continues to be very favourable and we will hold all the cards in Monza to try and secure our eighth title".
Source: wrc.com
Photo Credits: Toyota
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