Fate decided who won the Monte-Carlo Rally, says Ogier. What else did he reveal in the interview?

The opening act of the 2022 edition did not bring Sébastien Ogier the victory. In fact, it was blown away in the last stage by the experienced nine-time champion Sébastien Loeb. According to Ogier, fate decided that. But in an interview with Motorsport, he had much more to say.

During the first race of the season, it looked like Ogier would take his ninth overall victory in Monte-Carlo. However, the final result was greatly affected by a puncture Ogier suffered on the penultimate stage.

With the finish looming, the luck was also on Loeb’s side. Ogier had a twenty-four second lead at the halfway point of the race, but in addition to the puncture, he also missed the start in the final stage and received a ten second penalty.

Loeb, with his qualities, did not miss this chance and took the victory. The final form of the results list shows us that Ogier lost ten and a half seconds to the winner of this rally, even with these two hits.

Although both drivers have only officially confirmed the Monte-Carlo rally for this year so far, it is very likely that they will take part in other sub-events. The fact remains, however, that both are not involved in the main WRC programme and will therefore have to choose which events they do or do not want to enter for the rest of the season.

“It was a beautiful and very tough battle. I’m really happy about this rally and I think we will all remember it forever,” Ogier told Motorsport.

“Well, we didn’t come out of this weekend as winners, but I think we can still walk away with our heads held high and smile because we still did a great job. Unfortunately, fate decided otherwise today,” he realizes.

The Toyota Gazoo Racing driver also reacted to the puncture he suffered in the penultimate stage 16.

“Honestly, I couldn’t do anything about it. When the road was clear, I really tried to drive safely and avoid sharp corners. But during the stage, everybody took sharp turns like that and the track was very dirty. There was no way to avoid a crash after that. That’s life,” says Ogier.

Pirelli, it should be noted, has been criticised by many since its entry into the WRC world. However, it has tightened up its tyre construction for 2022 as a result of having to cope with new and heavier cars.

At the moment, it doesn’t bode well that there has already been a puncture on one of the cars on the occasion of the opening round of the season. Ogier concludes by adding that he is currently unable to confirm what race he will be attending next. However, he revealed that the Rally Portugal in May will be a promising opportunity.

However, it really wasn’t a bad weekend for Toyota. In addition to Ogier’s second place, the very talented Finn Kalle Rovanperä finished in the number 4 position and even won the twelfth, thirteenth and the last seventeenth stage.

Sources