Autosportfoto

Eighth time lucky for Ogier?

Championship leader Sébastien Ogier has his sights set on a landmark victory at this week's YPF Rally Argentina (27 - 30 april) - the only round on the WRC calendar he has yet to win.

Ogier and co-driver Julien Ingrassia have tackled the event seven times since their debut in 2009. They have finished on the podium on four occasions - three times as runners up.

Last year with Volkswagen they were just 2.6sec off the lead before a final-stage duel went the way of their rival Hayden Paddon.

Since returning from the Che Guevara Energy Drink Tour de Corse, Ogier and his M-Sport team have been hard at work to prepare for another attempt.

The squad had just four days to transform its Ford Fiesta WRCs into gravel trim, while Ogier joined the test team over the Easter holidays for a research and development test in the Arganil region of Portugal.

"Every year we go there with the ambition of securing victory for the first time. That has not changed this year. We want to win, but it won't be easy," said Ogier.

"We'll be opening the road on the first day which brings its own challenges, and then there are the stages themselves. The surface is unlike anything we have visited so far this year. It's gravel, but it's a completely different type of gravel to what we experienced in Mexico.

"In Argentina, the roads are much softer and sandier but also quite rough in places. That means that challenging for the win is always going to be a compromise between speed and endurance.

"I had two days of development testing in Portugal last week and everything is moving in the right direction, so we'll be hoping for another strong result next week," he added.

Zdroj: wrc.com