Sebastien Ogier has hit back in his efforts to win Rallye de France Alsace for his factory Citroen team by winning Saturday’s first test, the 9.87 Hohlandsbourg run.
Driving a works DS3 WRC, Ogier is now half a second behind second-placed Petter Solberg, in a privateer Citroen, and 0.8s adrift of leader Dani Sordo, at the wheel of a MINI John Cooper Works WRC.
After completing the stage, located north west of the town of Mulhouse, Ogier said: “It’s a good start and it’s now very close. I am more confident now with the car after we fixed a small problem with the brakes. There was no fuel problem yester, because the roof vent had been broken there was no air in the car because of that.”
Solberg reported a small amount of understeer but Sordo described his Prodrive-developed car as being “perfect”.
Jari-Matti Latvala was the fastest of the Ford drivers, 4.5s slower than Ogier in his all-black Fiesta RS WRC.