No rest for GB class winner Ogier

Sebastien Ogier handed Volkswagen Motorsport its ninth Super 2000 class victory in nine FIA World Rally Championship starts in 2012, but cut short his Wales Rally GB celebrations to prepare for two upcoming tests in Finland and Portugal.

Ogier will head Volkswagen’s maiden attack on the WRC’s big league in 2013 with the all-new Polo R World Rally Car having spent this season helping the German marque acclimatise to the extremes of world championship competition in a Skoda Fabia S2000.

“We haven’t tested too much this summer so now the autumn will be really busy in the last months before Rally Monte-Carlo [in January],” said Ogier. “It is development testing but for sure some parts of the testing are more focused on one part of the car and some on other parts. We are really looking for performance now because the reliability is not bad already.”

Frenchman Ogier has three more scheduled appearances left in his Fabia before he switches to the Polo R for the first round of the 2013 season. He says he can’t wait for that time to come. “For sure I’m very passionate about this. It’s a good car but it feels like a long time in the Skoda now.”

Ogier finished 12th overall on Rally GB. His home round of the WRC, Rallye de France Alsace, takes place from 4-7 October.