Ogier’s Italian job done

Sebastien Ogier’s move to Volkswagen’s World Rally Championship team behind the wheel of their Polo R WRC certainly has been good for the German manufacturer.

However, it is debatable if Ogier’s move to VW and his dominance of the WRC has done any good for him. It was worth pondering as he scored his fourth win of the season at Rally Sardinia on the June 21-23 weekend.

VW made their official return to rallying’s blue riband competition this year after testing parts of the Polo R WRC in a Super 2000-spec Fabia last year driven by Ogier.

That preparation coupled with the Frenchman’s undeniable talent - which was enough to unsettle even his legendary counterpart Sebastien Loeb at Citroen – has allowed VW to score 220 points in the manufacturers’ standings, 46 points ahead of second placed Citroen at the end of the seventh event of the 13-round WRC season.

Ogier alone has accounted for 154 of those points, with his finishing record in five of the six events prior to Sardinia making for remarkable reading; 2nd, 1st, 1st, 1st and 2nd. The only blemish coming at the sixth round of the WRC in the Acropolis Raly where the rough opening 47 kilometer stage of the rally led to what was believed to be suspension failure (VW kept the exact cause under wraps). The incident led to Ogier’s only finish outside of the top two with a tenth place finish.
Ogier made amends at Sardinia as he finished well over a minute ahead of second placed Thierry Neuville, who was over 30 seconds ahead of the factory Polo R WRC of Jari-Matti Latvala.

Conspicuous by his absence was defending nine-time WRC champion Sebastien Loeb who was preparing for what turned out to be his world record Pikes Peak International Hill Climb run with Peugeot a week after Sardinia.

A case can be made that Ogier has been robbed of a legacy due to Loeb’s truncated participation, which will see him compete in only four WRC rounds before retiring.
Following the two’s heated battle in 2011 as teammates at Citroen, the rallying world was keen to see them resume battle as number one drivers at top of the line manufacturer backed teams.

The best fans of rallying can now hope for is that VW’s voluntary development freeze on the Polo R WRC from next year will see a more level playing field than this year.