Sebastien Ogier explains the crash he had near the start of Stage 14 at Rally Italia Sardegna which had as a result to retire for the remaining two stages of Saturday.
The eight-time World Rally Championship was fighting with Esapekka Lappi for the lead and was the top driver until the Stage 14 where he crashed and Thierry Neuville became the new rally leader as EP backed off when he saw that the Frenchman was out. The crash happened 1.4 Km into SS14 when Ogier understeered a left-hand bend and slid down an embarkment on the outside of the corner resulting in beaching his Yaris and going off the road. The unknown story of this accident is that he and Vincent Landais stopped before the start line of Stage 14 to change a rear puncture and managed to be on time to start the stage, but Ogier jumped immediately to his car without cleaning his shoes which were full of mud. When he tried to brake, his foot slipped from the pedal, therefore he braked very late and could do nothing more than going straight. So far, it is yet to be confirmed if the French crew will restart on Sunday under the regulations of Rally2.
"Unfortunately we realized one minute before checking in that we had a slow puncture on the rear", Ogier said.
"We had to change the tire again and put a hard on unfortunately.
"But we managed to change it in less than a minute, we checked in like two seconds before being late, but that all happened in the mud.
"Then I jumped in the car, start the stage, and so stupidly I don’t know…
"I brake and my foot slipped from the pedal.
"My foot was full of mud, I slipped from the pedal and then the time that I jumped on the brake again I don’t know… it was too late, I locked the tire, stalled the engine and just… nothing.
"Just stopped one meter too late otherwise we could have gone back.
"But yeah it was not my day".
Source: DirtFish.com
Photo Credits: Toyota
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