SS9: Ogier hits back in France

Sebastien Ogier has hit back in his efforts to win Rallye de France Alsace for his factory Citroen team by winning Saturday’s first test, the 9.87 Hohlandsbourg run.

Driving a works DS3 WRC, Ogier is now half a second behind second-placed Petter Solberg, in a privateer Citroen, and 0.8s adrift of leader Dani Sordo, at the wheel of a MINI John Cooper Works WRC.

After completing the stage, located north west of the town of Mulhouse, Ogier said: “It’s a good start and it’s now very close. I am more confident now with the car after we fixed a small problem with the brakes. There was no fuel problem yester, because the roof vent had been broken there was no air in the car because of that.”

Solberg reported a small amount of understeer but Sordo described his Prodrive-developed car as being “perfect”.

Jari-Matti Latvala was the fastest of the Ford drivers, 4.5s slower than Ogier in his all-black Fiesta RS WRC.