Ogier in disbelief over puncture exit from Rally Portugal
Sebastien Ogier was shocked to retire from Rally Portugal following a double puncture after revealing he had been extra careful on the rough gravel roads.
The eight-time world champion’s hopes of recording a record sixth career Portugal victory ended on Friday afternoon after picking up a pair of punctures in consecutive stages.
Ogier suffered a front left failure on Stage 6 when occupying third, only 4.8s behind leader Elfyn Evans. It dropped the Frenchman, contesting a partial World Rally Championship season this year, to 11th in standings, after losing two minutes to change the wheel.
On the following stage Ogier suffered another puncture and after electing not take two spares the puncture resulted in retirement. He is set to return on Saturday under restart rules.
The Toyota driver admitted he’d driven with extra care and was astonished to have suffered a failure, initially believing the car's puncture alarm had produced a false reading.
Ogier wasn’t the only driver to suffer issues with the new upgraded Pirelli tyres as eight failures were recorded among the Rally1 competitors across a brutal Friday.
Hyundai’s Ott Tanak and M-Sport’s Gus Greensmith picked up two punctures, while Craig Breen and Adrien Fourmaux also encountered problems.
“Personally, I didn't expect that kind of roughness [of the stages],” said Ogier.
“Honestly, I had the info before the start of the second stage where I got the first puncture, and I was really cautious.
“I really tried to avoid every big rock and was not pushing at all in this first section, but it's a bit of a lottery. There's so many sharp stones everywhere that anywhere you drive, so many of them.
Sébastien Ogier, Benjamin Veillas, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images
“So when I pick up the alarm of the puncture, I didn't believe it, I said, "It cannot be". I was so careful here and I even carry on like for a kilometre, like flat out thinking that maybe it's a false alarm. But the tyre finally came off the rim and I realised unfortunately it was a real puncture.
“We were not super fast changing it [the wheel] because two minutes is a bit too long. So that's something we need to practice, honestly. But unfortunately, the next stage was even more difficult to understand because there was not so many rocks.
“And very soon after the start [we got] another puncture and then it was game over.”
Ogier’s team-mate Evans managed to avoid any tyre drama to end Friday leading the rally by 13.6s from the Toyota piloted by championship leader Kalle Rovanpera, who opened the road.
“I’m pretty happy to be here. There were some extreme conditions and everybody was trying to pick their way through,” said Evans. “It was a lottery at times. You can always say you could have gone faster, but would you still be here? I don't know. It's always difficult to say.”
WRC Portugal: Evans leads Rovanpera after brutal Friday
M-Sport unsure if Loeb will rejoin Rally Portugal after shock retirement
Alonso's pushy trait a boost for me in 2023 F1 season, says Stroll
Aston Martin Formula 1 driver Lance Stroll says Fernando Alonso's pushy nature will be a boost to both him and the squad this year.
Porsche aims to “learn quick” from Daytona 24 Hours disappointment
Porsche’s director of factory racing Urs Kuratle says his team will gain valuable answers from its disappointing results in the Daytona 24 Hours.
Ferrari: Claims of 30hp F1 engine step for 2023 "a joke"
Ferrari has labelled rumours of a 30hp leap in engine performance this year as a "joke", amid growing intrigue about the steps that Formula 1 manufacturers have made for 2023.
Deletraz switches from Prema to TF Sport for ELMS title defence
Two-time European Le Mans Series champion Louis Deletraz will leave Prema to join the TF Sport-run Racing Team Turkey for his third campaign in the championship this season.
How fired-up Ogier became the WRC's ultimate Monte master
He may only be contesting a part-time campaign in the World Rally Championship these days, but Sebastien Ogier underlined that he's lost none of his speed in the 2023 season opener. Storming to yet another victory on the Monte Carlo Rally, the eight-time world champion rewrote the history books again as Toyota served notice of its intentions with a crushing 1-2
How Lancia pulled off its famous Monte Carlo giantkilling
Audi should have been invincible in the snowy conditions that typically greeted the World Rally Championship paddock in Monte Carlo. But unexpectedly warm weather for the 1983 season opener, combined with some left-field thinking from the Lancia crew turned the tables. Forty years on, team boss Cesare Fiorio reflects on a smash and grab
Why M-Sport has pinned all its efforts on a WRC reunion
M-Sport had a disastrous 2022 with its Rally1 Ford Pumas following Sebastien Loeb’s first-time-out win on the Monte. But now things are looking up with 2019 world champion Ott Tanak leading its attack, and the Cumbrian operation has optimism that it can challenge for a first title since Sebastien Ogier's departure at the end of 2018
The contenders seeking to take Rovanpera's WRC crown
As Kalle Rovanpera begins his World Rally Championship title defence in Monte Carlo, the Finn knows he has a target on his back. But who is best placed to knock the Toyota ace off his perch?
Why Rovanpera is anticipating a fight to defend his WRC title
Question: what could be harder than becoming the youngest-ever World Rally champion? Answer: becoming the youngest-ever two-time World Rally champion. That's quite the challenge facing Toyota's Kalle Rovanpera in 2022, particularly against rejuvenated opposition in the second year of the WRC's hybrid regulations
From F1 to WRC: Why Hyundai's new boss could be an inspired signing
OPINION: New Hyundai WRC team boss Cyril Abiteboul admits he’s got a lot to learn as he leads the marque's efforts to dethrone Toyota. But could his Formula 1 experience and evident strengths mean he turns out to be an inspired choice?
The ultimate rally car project the WRC is glad COVID killed
Toyota was unstoppable in the 2021 World Rally Championship, with an excellent 75% strike rate from 12 rallies. But in a scary proposition for its rivals, the Japanese marque had built a car for the final year of the previous regulations set which it believes was much faster and could feasibly have crushed the opposition completely. Here the story of its mothballed world-beater
Autosport writers' most memorable moments of 2022
The season just gone was a memorable one for many of our staff writers, who are fortunate enough to cover motorsport around the world. Here are our picks of the best (and in some cases, most eventful) from 2022
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.