Ogier dominated the competition from nearly start to finish, but on the Power Stage, the Frenchman suffered a puncture and consequently fell to second place. Hyundai’s Ott Tänak won the rally by just 0.2 seconds.
“There’s not much of a story to tell here,” Ogier summarized after the rally.
“That’s just how motorsport is sometimes, and sometimes shit hits the fan. At least I can say that there wasn’t much I could have done differently,” Ogier continued.
The special stages of the Rally Sardinia presented extremely tough conditions, and the same was true for the concluding Power Stage.
“The stage was in worse condition than before, and we had our hands full trying to stay in the lead. We knew that this last stage didn’t suit our car very well. Unfortunately, we had a puncture three kilometers before the finish,” Ogier said.
Without the puncture, the Frenchman would likely have taken his third win of the season on the Mediterranean island, but now that dream was dashed.
Only once before in the history of the WRC has a victory been decided by such a small margin. This happened in Jordan in 2011. Back then, luck was on Ogier’s side, and the current Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala experienced the same fate as the Frenchman.
Ogier was, of course, disappointed, but he acknowledged that there are more important things in life.
“The puncture cost us the win this time, but we just have to accept it. It’s difficult, but it’s not the end of the world. There are far worse things in life than this. My thoughts are currently with Ari Vatanen and his family. That kind of thing is the worst that can happen in life,” Ogier said, referring to his former manager Kim Vatanen.
Ari Vatanen’s son, Kim Vatanen, passed away earlier this week from rapidly progressing cancer. He was only 51 years old.
