Despite claiming a clean sweep of wins in the opening leg speed tests at the Che Guevara Energy Drink Tour de Corse, rally winner Sébastien Ogier believes he still fell short of perfection.
He laid the platform for the win that moved him within touching distance of a fourth consecutive FIA World Rally Championship title by topping the times in all four of Friday’s asphalt mountain special stages to build a 44.0sec lead.
But in an ominous message to his rivals who are trying to halt Ogier’s run of title successes, the Frenchman thinks his day could have been better.
“I would not describe Friday as a perfect day because it was not absolutely perfect, but good,” he said. “On the first day I was a little bit cautious, my notes were a little bit too low. I could have gone a little faster but I wanted to start also without too much risk.
“It was definitely a very strong day, I mean, it must be when you create such a gap. You can’t say you have done something too bad. On asphalt there are many drivers ready to fight at the front so, for sure, on Friday when we managed to lead with this gap it was a surprise.”
Ogier heads to the next round on the mixed surface roads of Spain in a little over a week requiring 16 points to assure him of the drivers’ crown. He banished any thoughts of taking it easy to ensure his target is reached with two rounds remaining.
“I can now be quite relaxed for the end of the season. I won’t go to the next rally trying to score 16 points. I feel relaxed so I will go with the target to win again,” he said.