Starting positions gave the star drivers no chance whatsoever to fight for victory at Rally Saudi Arabia, but that was hardly even the goal – at least not for Ogier. The most important thing now is simply to finish ahead of his main championship rivals and collect more points than they do.
And on Thursday, Ogier executed that plan the best. The experienced Frenchman took no unnecessary risks; from the very beginning he drove solely and specifically against Evans and Rovanperä. After Thursday’s running, Ogier lies seventh in the rally, Rovanperä eighth and Evans ninth. The situation is, of course, comical in the sense that the title fight is decided by who occupies the least terrible position – and Ogier made this quite clear as well.
“The players certainly know how to put themselves in a position to celebrate this championship. The three best drivers, the top names of the season, fighting over seventh, eighth and ninth places – it’s great. Fortunately, we’ll soon be changing promoter, and we surely won’t miss the old one at all,” Ogier blasted.
Ogier was satisfied with his own performance.
“I think you can see from the results sheet that we did quite a good job today. That was my main goal: we are ahead of them, by a small margin, so it’s a good basis for tomorrow,” Ogier summed up.
On Thursday, the starting positions made the battle somewhat unfair, as Evans in particular suffered disproportionately from having to run first on the road. Although Evans’s road position played into Ogier’s hands, the Frenchman is pleased that the situation will be more equalised on Friday.
“At least all three of us have a slightly better starting spot for tomorrow, so then we’ll see what we can do. But it was quite unbelievable today that we lost an absolutely incredible amount on the first three stages even on the second pass. But then again, there’s nothing new about that either,” Ogier reflected.
Ogier’s plan for Friday is very simple.
“As I said before the start: I have to do everything that is within my control. So far, it feels like I’ve done exactly that. The rally has gone well. I did everything I could today, and tomorrow the same again – then we’ll see what happens,” said Ogier, who is chasing the ninth world title of his career.
