The French star is currently third in the race, but trails the leader by over 20 seconds. Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville, who started from the first position, dominated the morning stages.
“It’s not really a surprise. We expected it, I have to say, stage one was the the hardest to take,” Ogier commented.
“I was hoping this one will stay a bit cleaner, but actually, it was the worst in terms of pollution, and there was not so much we could do.”
The situation should even out a bit during the afternoon loop, as the special stages are already in rough condition.
“I hope at least it’s a bit more constant now. Let’s say it shouldn’t get so much worse than it is already. But you know, all cars are so quick that there’s always a tendency to bring more and more dirt onto the road. So it still won’t be the optimum start position, but it shouldn’t be as bad as in the morning.” Ogier summarized.
Ogier was satisfied with his own performance. Despite the gap to the leader, he had no regrets.
“I think I’m happy, honestly. Taking the start position into consideration, I think the pace is quite okay. So far, so good. I had one moment in the second stage where I went a bit into the bank on a dirty section,” Ogier stated.
In the Croatia Rally, tire choices play a significant role. Ogier hinted that the frontrunner Neuville had the best tire selection in the morning.
“There were a lot of differences with tyres. And some got it right. One did get it right, I will say. But we were okay. We had a correct combination, but it was hard to estimate how quickly it would dry up after the night’s rain. It dried up quite a lot, but there was still some muddy section. There wasn’t much difference you could make with the tires this morning anyway,” Ogier reflected.
