Ogier’s barren run will help in 2011, says Quesnel

Olivier Quesnel says Sebastien Ogier’s faltering end to the 2010 season will make him a better driver when the World Rally Championship fires back into life in Sweden next February.

Rising star Ogier, the Junior world champion of 2008, headed into the final three events of this year on the back of his sensational victory on Rally Japan in September in second position in the title standings. However, mistakes on the season-closing events in France, Spain and Great Britain meant he slipped to fourth in the final table behind Jari-Matti Latvala and Petter Solberg.

“It was a bad thing for a good thing,” said Citroen Racing chief Quesnel, who has overseen Ogier’s transformation into a WRC event winner in recent seasons. “The accident he had on GB was not a surprise to me because he was fighting with Petter and Sebastien [Loeb] and he has no experience and in Wales it is not easy. He’s a winner but he was too ambitious and he needs the experience to understand what can happen because this will help his self control. The accident he had helped him [for next year] so we have to be positive.”

Frenchman Ogier, who turns 27 later this month, spent much of 2010 driving for the Citroen Junior Team with co-driver Julien Ingrassia, but will step up to the main Citroen Total World Rally Team alongside seven-time champion Loeb next season at the wheel of the all-new DS3 World Rally Car.

He will spend the coming months conducting extensive testing in the DS3 ahead of his second appearance on Rally Sweden, which will be based in Karlstad from February 10-13, as Citroen’s engineers continue the development of the replacement for the all-conquering C4 WRC.