Saudi Arabia has long been known as the so-called promised land of “sportswashing.” The country is attempting to polish its public image through the help of sporting stars.
Last year, Saudi Arabia also brought the World Rally Championship into this project, signing an extraordinary ten-year contract. It’s an unusually long agreement – but then again, the sums involved are exceptionally large as well.
Sébastien Ogier, who went off the road in the Central European Rally, made his opinion clear. He has absolutely no desire to travel to Saudi Arabia for the season finale.
“I know nothing about it, because we didn’t want to go there. But maybe we’ll have to,” Ogier said after the Central European Rally.
And indeed, he will have to, if he intends to fight for the world title. Ogier lost his lead in the drivers’ championship in Central Europe to his team-mate Elfyn Evans. Evans now leads the standings by 13 points ahead of Ogier and Kalle Rovanperä, who are tied on points.
“It’s interesting. That’s all I can say from my side. But I couldn’t have done much more in this rally,” Ogier said.
“I don’t regret anything. I gave everything this weekend – everything I possibly could,” he added.
Ogier’s rally went wrong on Saturday morning when he went off the road.
“That’s part of the game,” Ogier said.
“Things don’t always go according to plan, but at least the pace is there, so the end of the season will be really interesting. I’m glad there were no serious injuries,” he continued.
Ogier has so far had an excellent season and hasn’t made mistakes. Even in this case, it wasn’t a straightforward error, as Toyota’s tyre had deflated, and the warning system for a puncture didn’t work.
“It was really scary because it happened so suddenly. If it had happened a few hundred metres earlier, we would have gone straight into the forest,” Ogier recalled.
“And it could have been much worse for me and Vincent (co-driver Landais). But we’re in one piece, at least,” Ogier concluded.
