Ogier was in great form during Friday’s stages at Acropolis Rally, but in the afternoon, the Frenchman encountered problems. His car’s turbo broke, causing him to drop from the lead to fourth place, nearly two and a half minutes behind the leader.
“It was a sudden turbo failure. You feel it straight away. You come from 400-plus horsepower to, I have no idea how much, but it feels like it’s less than 100. It really didn’t work at all. On the road section, of course, we still had a look to be sure what it was, but I was not really confident we could do anything,” Ogier said at the end of the day.
“We saw very quickly that the turbo was broken. End of the game,” the Toyota star summarised.
Ogier has committed to competing in all the remaining WRC rounds this season to fight for the championship against Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville. Neuville was acting as the road sweeper during Friday’s stages at the Acropolis Rally, with Ogier running just behind him as the second car on the road.
Before Ogier’s turbo issue, Neuville couldn’t match the Frenchman’s pace. Ogier took the opportunity to take a jab at the Belgian Hyundai ace.
“I think up to that moment, we had done the best job we could to prove that the championship leader is not that fast. He was first on the road, and we were second, and we took 45 seconds in four stages. So maybe he should stop crying and learn to drive first on the road,” Ogier said sharply.
Ogier was referring to Neuville’s complaints about the WRC start order rule, which forces the championship leader to drive first on the stages during the opening day of gravel rallies. However, Ogier himself used to complain about the same rule during his championship-winning years when he often found himself sweeping the roads.
Hyundai currently holds a 1-2-3 lead in Greece after the first day, with Ott Tänak in the lead, followed by teammates Dani Sordo and Neuville.
Ogier, in fourth place, is more than a minute and a half behind Neuville. But as Friday’s events showed, anything can happen in the gruelling Acropolis Rally. All three Toyota drivers faced issues on the opening day.
“I think the gaps are big, so there’s not much I can do. But I’m never giving up; you know that.”
“It’s going to be a long weekend still. Tomorrow we have no service, so it’s not going to be an easy day to get through without trouble. Let’s hope that we are past our bad luck for the weekend and can finish a bit better,” Ogier added.
The Acropolis Rally continues on Saturday with six more stages.
