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Ogier: ‘I had no answer’

Championship leader Sébastien Ogier admitted he was powerless to chase a podium at last weekend's YPF Rally Argentina.

The Frenchman banked strong points from fourth place, allied with bonus points for second in the Power Stage, but said the low traction on the sandy roads did not suit his Ford Fiesta.

"The conditions with low grip did not suit very well the package we have at the moment, so we have to analyse and find where we can improve in these conditions," the M-Sport Ford World Rally Team driver explained.

"We still have areas where we need to work, but rallying is a compromise always. We have been able to improve at the beginning of the season in some conditions, but in the low grip in the sandy conditions it looks like we still need to find a solution to be faster.

"It was a struggling weekend and we still took positive points at the end so I'm not completely unhappy."

Ogier limited the time loss during Friday's opening leg when he cleaned the roads from first in the start order. He ended the day just 7.8sec outside the top three and targeted a second place finish.

"Ott (Tänak) was already far away in the lead but on Saturday the guys around me, like Dani Sordo who was just behind me in the running order, were faster than me the whole day.

"I couldn't find an answer. There was only one stage where I was careful in the fog, but in the others I was slower. We still have some room for improvement," added Ogier, who finished more than 40sec adift of third-placed Sordo.

Zdroj: wrc.com