Autosportfoto

New world rally champion ready for Wales

Sébastien Ogier, the newly crowned 2013 FIA World Rally Champion, is hoping to end his title winning season in grand style with victory on Wales Rally GB (14-17 November).

However it will be a tall order for the 29-year-old Frenchman who acknowledges that he's yet to fully master the notoriously challenging Welsh forest stages.

"It's not my favourite event - I have had a lot of accidents there!" admitted the man who has tackled Wales Rally GB on five occasions and is yet to post a top ten finish, let alone come close to winning. "The stages are really nice but very difficult to judge with varying grip levels, and then there's the weather. But now with more experience, I'm hoping to secure a good result this year."

With Ogier yet to taste success in Wales he is all the more relieved to have safely secured his first World Rally Championship last weekend in France with two rounds remaining on the 2013 calendar. "I am very happy to do this rally without having to worry about the championship," disclosed the Volkswagen Motorsport star. "It's a rally where anything can happen and it's very easy to make a mistake."

One of the Frenchman's most spectacular disappointments came when he removed a wheel from his Citroen on the Great Orme in 2010. "It's an impressive place but I don't have so many good memories," he continued. "I have only done the Orme once and then only completed about one kilometre before crashing. This time I'm hoping to complete it... and all the other stages."