Ogier's roll in Powerstage was caused by a puncture

Sebastien Ogier says that the last weekend was a strange one and was close to perfection as he had a great feeling inside his car while he explains his roll in Powerstage.

The Frenchman is among the title contenders for this year's championship and was leading from Stage 3 to 4 while he dropped to fourth place at the end of Stage 6 as his Yaris suffered from turbo issues in Stage 5. He climbed to third at the end of the opening stage of Saturday and completed that day at this position while he spoiled the 1-2 of Hyundai at the end of Stage 13. He was the fastest driver on the opening stages of Sunday and was the top driver at SuperSunday standings until Powerstage where he suffered from a puncture resulting in braking late and losing the rear of his Yaris. He rolled his car after this incident, but he and Vincent Landais managed to continue and to complete the final stage of Acropolis Rally after many minutes which means that they eventually finished 16th. After the end of the tenth WRC round, Ogier lost his second place over Ott Tanak on the championship, but their gap is only at four points heading to Rally Chile.

"We gave everything all weekend", Ogier said. 

"We did a lot right, we had a great feeling in the car and great pace, and we fought as hard as we could until the last stage. 

"Unfortunately we picked up a puncture around a kilometre in, I didn’t react to brake early enough for the next corner, and we rolled. 

"Thankfully we managed to fix the car and bring it back to service, and bring at least some points to the team. 

"It’s been a strange weekend. 

"In many aspects it was close to perfection, but it doesn’t count in rallying if you don’t bring it all to the end. 

"This is not a rally where you want to be taking risks, you need some luck to do so, and it was not on our side. 

"It’s satisfying for me to still be able to compete like this: I enjoy pushing the limits, it’s been fun in the car. 

"But I know very well after all these years that sometimes it doesn’t go your way. 

"I will still be there in the next three events, continuing to give my best and keep fighting".

Photo Credits: Toyota