The head of Volkswagen Motorsport has heaped praise on Sebastien Ogier for taking the 2013 WRC drivers’ crown, but believes the Frenchman’s role in developing the new Polo R World Rally Car is even more impressive.
Jost Capito was one of the first to congratulate Ogier and co-driver Julien Ingrassia at the end of Thursday’s decisive street stage in Strasbourg, an experience he described as ‘one of life’s great feelings.’
Back in the Volkswagen service area, Capito told wrc.com why he was so proud of Ogier, who so far this year has bagged five WRC rally wins and one world title.
“It’s extraordinary,” he said. “The professionalism, the coolness that he showed is almost unbelievable. I think the most impressive thing is that he developed that car. He came here with not so much experience in WRC and he was involved in a programme to develop a car from scratch. To bring that car to a WRC title in its first year is his biggest achievement.”
With another two rallies to go before the end of Volkswagen’s debut WRC season, Capito said what had already been achieved was ‘remarkable’ and had far surpassed early expectations.
“All the indications we had beforehand were that podiums were what he had to aim for,” he said. “They are tough rallies and we didn’t have experience on them. We didn’t know how much reliability we had, and how fast the car was on rough gravel. We did not have any comparison up front.
“But the car was better than we thought, the drivers did an excellent job and made less mistakes than the others. That gave a shock to the competition and they started to make more mistakes because they weren’t in the position they expected to be.
"Our confidence grew from rally to rally and their confidence got lost from rally to rally. We were focused and finally we got into a position that it could be done."
Capito guided Ford to two manufacturers’ world titles, but admitted a drivers’ title was thrilling from a personal perspective.
“I couldn’t imagine that something like this could happen. I have had some other really good moments in the past but this was the first drivers’ title that I have had the responsibility for so it is something very special,” he said.