Ogier began his season in Monte Carlo back in January, claiming victory on home soil. In Gran Canaria, his main goal is again to stand on the top step of the podium.
“To this question I always have the same answer on my side. I always target the win. And then if it’s not possible, then you have to settle for something else. But at the moment, the ambition is to fight. Fight for the top position for sure,” Ogier stated.
One of the most intriguing factors in Gran Canaria is the Hankook tarmac tyres, which are now facing their first serious test. According to the drivers, Hankooks may not endure quite like the previous supplier Pirelli’s tyres, meaning there’s a need to adapt.
“Tyres are always key, and now it’s the first race with the hard Hankook tyres, so that means we still don’t fully know them and we’re not 100% sure how to manage them in terms of pressure or temperature. You probably can’t push as much as we did in the past with the other tyres,” Ogier reflected.
“But the good thing is, we all have the same, so it’s about who will handle it the best.”
In Thursday morning’s shakedown, Ogier posted the sixth-fastest time. The gap to teammate Kalle Rovanperä’s benchmark was as much as 4.3 seconds – enough to give the multiple champion something to think about.
“We’ve seen big differences already in the morning shakedown. Kalle was extremely fast. It will be interesting to see if he can carry this speed the whole time. If so, then we have a problem. But at the moment, it all looks good,” Ogier said.
So far, Ogier has nothing but praise for the Canary Islands Rally.
“This is a beautiful rally. I can confirm it was a good idea to come here. Beautiful piece of tarmac, which reminds me quite a lot of Catalonia, in a way, in terms of surface. But of course, the profile is a bit different. Probably it’s more twisty and also less forgiving than Catalonia, because most of the time there’s a mountain or barrier on the side of the road,” Ogier summed up.
“We’ll have to keep a perfect line all weekend to avoid any impacts. The feeling in the shakedown was pretty good this morning. Let’s see how it starts tomorrow.”
