Before the last four special stages on Saturday, Ogier is trailing Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville, who is leading the race, by 11.3 seconds. The Frenchman was slightly frustrated with his car’s settings.
“We changed the setup but unfortunately it didn’t work so well. Then on the dry, I couldn’t have the same feeling as I had yesterday and I was missing a little bit of pace, but still it was okay,” Ogier shared.
The Toyota star also had a major incident on the morning’s third special stage, which damaged the front bumper.
“I had a big moment in the stage three . I don’t know but there was a surprising kick from the rear of the car. I lost it at the entry of a corner. I had a massive oversteer and quite didn’t manage to catch it and hit a bit,” Ogier explained.
“The barrier on the inside damaged my front bumper. Because of that I lost a bit of time, the rest of the loop due to missing aerodynamics.”
The problems didn’t stop with just a broken front bumper.
“On top of that, I had to drive the last stage also with wet tyre on the car because one of my soft tyre was having some tread damage and I didn’t want to take the risk to have a puncture. So that cost me also a little bit of time. I didn’t lose much.”
With the first provisional points being awarded on Saturday, the battle for victory is sure to be fierce, as Ogier has nothing to lose and might make risky choices regarding tires. Meanwhile, Neuville and Elfyn Evans, who is in second place, have to consider their standings in the championship.
Ogier might opt for the best tires for dry conditions and hope that it doesn’t rain on the stages. On the other hand, Neuville and Evans need to study the weather maps very carefully and might opt to take a few rain tires as a safe choice.
Evans is only 4.7 seconds behind Neuville. The biggest time gap came on the final stage of the morning loop, where Evans lost three seconds to the Belgian.
“Obviously, the margins have been quite tight between everyone. We just lost a bit too much in theory in that last one. Every stage has been a few tenths, but the last one wasn’t so good,” Evans noted.
“Of course we have to keep going with the same rhythm and and see what’s possible. Of course, we want to try to catch Neuville if we can. But you still have to get to the end of the rally also,” the Welshman continued.
