Ogier now has nine Monte-Carlo victories at WRC level and ten in total, having also won the event once when it was part of the IRC rally series.
Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala was highly impressed with his driver’s performance. He could hardly contain his admiration when speaking about the French champion.
“Sebastien has won this rally in his 20s, in his 30s, and in his 40s. To be a sportsman and stay at the top level for such a long time is unique,” Latvala enthused.
“But that’s why he is a world champion, he always has something special in his pocket that he can use in this rally,” he continued.
Ogier is once again set to compete in only a partial WRC campaign this season. That was also the plan last year, but things didn’t quite go as expected—he ended up doing more than initially intended.
Following his victory at Rally Finland last year, Ogier was practically the only Toyota driver still in contention for the drivers’ title. Latvala had to use all his persuasive skills to convince Ogier to keep driving for the rest of the season.
As we now know, it didn’t lead to a record-breaking ninth drivers’ title for Ogier, but Toyota did celebrate yet another manufacturers’ championship at the end of the season.
Ogier has managed to maintain his high level of performance, so does Latvala plan to ask the Frenchman to take on more rallies again this season?
“Last year, I had to start convincing him more and more. So you never know.”
“Let’s see after a couple of events if we start the same again, asking him to do more rallies,” Latvala laughed.
Ogier, however, has insisted that he will only contest half of the rallies this season. After his Monte-Carlo victory, he mentioned that he now has a longer break before returning to WRC competition.
This year, Toyota might not need Ogier as much. Kalle Rovanperä has returned to full-time competition, and Elfyn Evans started the season in strong form. On top of that, Takamoto Katsuta and Sami Pajari are both driving full seasons for Toyota.
The French champion may finally get to enjoy his part-time rallying schedule more peacefully than last year.
