Sebastien Ogier has pinpointed the two key factors that ultimately prevented him from taking the fight to eventual Rally Japan winner Elfyn Evans over the weekend.
The nine-time world rally champion headed to Japan with his sights firmly fixed on victory, but the defending event winner had to settle for second, 12.8s behind points leader Evans.
Ogier was forced to chase from the outset given the disadvantage of starting sixth on stages that became increasingly dirty with every pass. Ogier dropped 16.7s to Evans in the first pass through Isegami’s Tunnel on Friday, which the Frenchman felt was purely down to road position.
Forced to play catch up, Ogier encountered another issue that put the brakes on any hopes of overhauling Evans. Having previously been able to utilise Hankook’s hard tarmac tyre to achieve a victory on asphalt in the Canary Islands, in Japan the reigning world champion struggled to coax the necessary consistent speed out of the hard tyre.
According to Ogier, this was largely due to the extreme high temperatures experienced in Japan, and the twisty and technical stages that put extra demands on the rubber. Ogier has built a career on being a tyre management master, which made the struggles in Japan an unusual occurrence.
When asked if he had experienced issues working the hard tyres before Japan, Ogier told Motorsport.com: “I think it was amplified with the temperatures this weekend. The temperature and the fact that it’s really corner to corner on the stages, so you put a lot of effort and energy in the tyres.
Sebastien Ogier, Vincent Landais, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photo by: Toyota Racing
“Again there is no excuse. Everybody had the same tyres so it’s just that I didn’t manage this parameter as much as I would like to and couldn’t push like I’m usually able to do on tarmac, so that’s it. It’s been the last one [asphalt event] so now we have to focus on something different.”
Ogier admitted that he tried “everything he could” with the car set-up to get around the issue he was having with the tyres, but it was to no avail.
“We tried everything we could with the set-up,” he added, “but it simply doesn’t suit my driving style. I knew from the calculations early on that these tyres will never be great for me. So far, I was managing it okay, but now in extreme heat temperatures it was more difficult, and I didn’t really manage it as good as I would have loved.
“But on the other hand, my rally wasn’t bad. The rally has just been decided in one stage because of starting position. I mean, Elfyn has been strong and deserved the win and a great job from him.
“But we cannot basically blame ourselves too much for being bad this weekend. I think we’ve been okay, not as good as people are maybe used to seeing us on tarmac, but it wasn’t a bad performance either.”
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