A precious point for Ogier and Ingrassia

Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia are holding onto their second place in the World Rally Championship at the end of the 12th event of the season, held in Spain.

By finishing 10th in Salou, they will head into the final rally of the year in Great Britain with an 11-point advantage over their closest pursuers.

After finishing 14th at the end of day two of the Rally de España, Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia were aiming to get back into the top 10 in order to consolidate their second position in the World Rally Championship.

During the first run through El Priorat alone, the longest stage of the rally at 42.04 kilometres, the French crew made up three places to claim 11th overall.

“It’s obviously not the same type of rally for us since we went off yesterday,” explained Sébastien. “I’m trying to find the motivation to continue to drive at a good pace. We just need to carry on now and gain more experience for the future.”

Despite breaking a front-right damper top mount at the end of La Serra d’Almos (SS14), the two Frenchmen continued their path towards the top 10. “It was a similar problem to the one we had on the Rallye de France,” recounted Sébastien. “I touched a small rock in the middle of a cut just before the end of the stage. The top of the suspension gave way, but we were able to continue to service without any problems.”

At the end of 16 special stages Sébastien and Julien were 10th, scoring an additional World Championship point.

“We missed a good opportunity, but I don’t regret at all having tried to take the fight to Sébastien Loeb,” said the Citroën Junior Team driver. “I feel that I’m getting quicker and quicker on asphalt. Now I need to concentrate on the final round of the season in Great Britain in order to finish second in the World Rally Championship. That remains a realistic objective.”

Citroën Junior Team Manager Benoit Nogier concluded: “The raw result from Spain is not a positive one for the Citroën Junior Team. But once again our Citroën C4 WRC was reliable and the team did a solid job throughout the rally. These are the principal points to remember about this weekend. We had the chance to consolidate our position before heading to Great Britain, but we didn’t manage to. Now we need to concentrate on the last rally of the year so that we finish the season well. Still, everything is relative. The objective of seeing Sébastien Ogier take second in the drivers’ World Championship is one that has created itself over the course of the season. It’s the result of a strong and consistent performance from our team throughout the year.”

The Citroën Junior Team is currently third in the World Rally Championship for manufacturers with 196 points: 41 more than its nearest rival. Sébastien Ogier will start the final round of the year placed second in the drivers’ standings, with 11 points over Jari-Matti Latvala and 16 points over Petter Solberg.