Rally: Frenchman Sébastien Ogier wins his eighth world champion title

Published on : 11/21/2021 – 17:05

For the eighth and probably the last time since 2013, Frenchman Sébastien Ogier (Toyota) won the world champion’s trophy at the end of the last rally of the season, Sunday, November 21, in Monza.

His victory in Italy, along with a second place in the Power Stage (perhaps the only “downside” of an almost perfect weekend), allows the French to finish with 23 points ahead of his vice-champion. for the second year in a row, the Briton Elfyn Evans (Toyota), second at Monza.

Spaniard Dani Sordo (Hyundai) completed the rally podium at 21 3/10 sec from Ogier. Toyota also won the constructors’ title 59 points ahead of Hyundai.

Ogier, who will be 38 on December 17, will only compete in a few races with Toyota next year, to devote himself to his family and his dream of racing the 24 Hours of Le Mans (in which his current team participates). It will be without his historic co-driver Julien Ingrassia, who will retire at almost 42 years old (November 26).

A duo that separates

What Ingrassia will do from now on “is not yet settled. The rally is a question of experience and to have this baggage during all these years and not to pass it on would perhaps be a shame”, he explained. to AFP at the beginning of the week. “So whether it’s for the crews, for the co-pilots, I would like to pass that on to them one way or another.”

Ogier had initially considered to lighten his program at the end of 2020 but a season truncated by the coronavirus pandemic convinced him to renew for a year with the Japanese manufacturer.

It was well seen because he flew over 2021 with five victories (Monte-Carlo, Croatia, Sardinia, Kenya and Monza) and two other podiums (3^e in Portugal and Greece) in twelve rounds.

He did not leave the leader’s position in the drivers’ standings until after the second round (the Arctic Rally in Finland), where he suffered an accident, to regain it in third by winning in Croatia.

From the fourth round in Portugal, he widened the gap, before seeing Evans come back in the last three rallies. The Frenchman won thanks both to his speed, his racing science, his experience in fighting for world laurels and the reliability of his Toyota compared to Hyundai.

The now eight-time world champion should remain a record title for his compatriot Sébastien Loeb, crowned continuously between 2004 and 2012 with Citroën. But the essential is perhaps elsewhere.

After the Finnish Juha Kankkunen, Ogier is the second driver to be crowned with three different manufacturers: Volkswagen between 2013 and 2016, Ford in the private M-Sport team in 2017 and 2018 (a feat) and Toyota in 2020 and 2021.

It is ultimately only with Citroën that he did not succeed in 2019, but the Habs have “no regrets” about this season and are reviewing their career “with a lot of pride and of smiles “.

“I don’t rally to be celebrated”

“If I had to put one downside, he told AFP, it is that, since the Covid, contact with the public is a little lacking. I do not rally to be celebrated but to the sensations of driving and the competition. But the fact of not being able to share these moments with those who have supported us throughout our career, or even with our teams, in the same way as before, is lacking. “

Evans, but also the Belgian Thierry Neuville (Hyundai, 3^e of the championship), Estonian Ott Tänak (Hyundai, 5^e) and the young Finn Kalle Rovanperä (Toyota, 4^e) are the main candidates to succeed Ogier next year.

On the French side, “we will hope that boys like Adrien (Fourmaux, which must extend with M-Sport, editor’s note), for example, can take up the torch at a certain time”, wishes the master.

Some answers in barely two months at the Rallye Monte-Carlo, from January 20 to 23, with a new generation of cars in the running, equipped for the first time with hybrid engines.

With AFP