Dani Has His Day At World Rally Championship (WRC)

While Ogier and Volkswagen march towards their impending WRC coronation Citroen’s long serving number two driver had a brief moment in the sun

Given their varying level of experience and success in the World Rally Championship (WRC), you would be forgiven for being surprised at this year’s champion-elect Sebastien Ogier and long time Citroen driver Dani Sordo being the same age.

Sordo and Ogier were both born in 1983. However, the Spaniard made his WRC debut in 2003 while the Frenchman who has inherited the mantle of ‘super-seb’ from his namesake Sebastien Loeb didn’t make his debut until five years later.

Sordo has competed in 107 WRC events as opposed to Ogier’s 66, in which he has topped the podium 12 times and recorded 162 stage wins.

Season after season of racking up points for Citroen’s constructors title crowns while Loeb rewrote the record books didn’t net any wins for Sordo. And a WRC victory looked all the more unlikely when Ogier replaced him at Citroen in 2011 resulting in Sordo taking up a drive with the struggling Mini works team.

However, with Loeb diversifying his motor sport resume and competing in just four WRC events prior to his retirement Sordo has been called back into service by Citroen and his patience was rewarded by a win in Rally Deutschland. That too at Ogier’s Volkswagen works team’s home event where the Frenchman crashed out after missing his braking zone.

The Spaniard may just have had an equally large smile on his face after seeing Chris Meeke – who Citroen chose to replace him with prior to Germany – crash out in the following event in Australia, which was won by Ogier.

One might sympathize with Citroen’s plight at having to go through with their decision of replacing Sordo with Meeke who won the 2009 Intercontinetal Rally Challenge for their sister company Peugeot.

It definitely has the makings of an awkward situation that no employer would want to be put in. But Sordo’s success would probably resonate more among anyone who has been subject to the fickleness of an employer!