Solid points for Sébastien Ogier

The Citroën Junior Team crew of Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia have maintained second place in the FIA World Rally Championship with a sixth-place finish in their Citroën C4 WRC on the Rallye de France-Alsace. Just two rounds of the season now remain.

The French crew set off from sixth place this morning after incurring 10 minutes of road penalties, due to re-starting the rally after retiring from day two. “There’s not much left for us to play for on this rally,” explained Sébastien as he got into his C4 WRC. “But it’s important to get to the finish in order to score points.”

Two fifth-fastest and one sixth-fastest time later, Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia finished sixth on the Rallye de France-Alsace.

“The day turned out to be quite short after one of the two runs through the only real stage was cancelled,” said Sébastien at the finish. “There was no reason for us to push, but it was very important to take this sixth place for the points.”

“This was a really difficult rally for us,” he continued. “I don’t think anyone has ever seen conditions as dirty as this on asphalt. But we’re making progress on this surface, despite our lack of experience. We’re getting closer to the frontrunners on every rally.”

With two rounds left before the end of the season, Sébastien Ogier now has a 22-point advantage over Petter Solberg. “This sixth place gives us some important points for the championship,” he pointed out. “We’ve still got quite a comfortable margin. But there are two rallies left, which we are going to have to take very seriously if we want to finish second in the drivers’ championship. That would be a great result for us.”

Benoit Nogier, Citroën Junior Team manager, underlined the positive aspects at the end of the Rallye de France-Alsace. “Citroën’s key objective was to wrap up both world titles this weekend,” he said. “We’re very proud – and very moved – to see Citroën and Sébastien Loeb win in France and claim the championship at home.”

“The Citroën Junior Team had a slightly more difficult weekend,” he continued. “Kimi got off to an encouraging start before making a mistake that stopped him from finishing on Saturday. He chose not to continue in the rally, as he preferred to save his car for the forthcoming Rally of Spain. Sébastien made a brilliant start once more, mixing it with the best in the business. There’s a little bit of performance left to come from him before he can start challenging for victories on this surface, but he’s getting closer and closer. His small mistake on Saturday deprived him of a podium but he has hardly slipped up this season
at all. Sébastien’s goal of improving his performance on asphalt has been achieved. He maintains second place on the championship as the season draws to a close.”