Q & A: Citroen boss on Ogier vs Loeb
The Rally of Portugal is turning into a fascinating shoot-out between Citroen's current superstar Sebastien Loeb and its future championship hope Sebastien Ogier - with young Junior Team driver Ogier taking a 21-second advantage over established legend Loeb into the final day
AUTOSPORT spoke to Citroen's motorsport Olivier Quesnel to find out what the tactics would be for Sunday.
Q. What's the plan tomorrow?
Olivier Quesnel: The plan is for me to defend the Citroen brand. I want the world championship for the drivers and for the manufacturers. Honestly for the drivers it seems not so bad, but for the manufacturers the gap is not too much. So I will say they can drive.
Q. But can they fight?
OQ: They can drive. But it's forbidden to go out of the road.
Q. What does that mean?
OQ: If one is out of the road, for Seb one it would be stupid - for the drivers he has a good lead in the championship. And if Seb two went off the road, for his career... they understand.
Q. Who will win?
OQ: I don't know. If Seb one does what he did in New Zealand [where Loeb went off several times], things can happen. I don't know. I just don't know. Anyway, it's fantastic for you. Thank you Citroen, eh?
Q. Is this the best you have seen from Ogier?
OQ: I was not in New Zealand so I can't tell you what happened there. But what happened here is very clever for him because he's first on the road and very fast. With the tyres he is very clever.
Q. Has he been better than Loeb with the tyre?
OQ: I don't know. There was a small mistake from Seb [Loeb] in the first stage today. He get the split time from [Dani] Sordo, because Sordo was fastest, but collapsed at the end of the stage. Seb said: 'You didn't give me the split time for Ogier.' And we said: 'But, you wanted the split time for the fastest - and that was Sordo for [most of] the stage.' And he thought Ogier was behind, so he lost some time. It's an interesting situation for tomorrow.
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