Sebastien Ogier says he will drive to support Citroen team in France
Sebastien Ogier has admitted he is at the Citroen team's disposal if it wants to apply team orders in its bid for a home win on next week's Rally de France-Alsace next week
After refusing to talk about the team's tactical approach to Rally Australia earlier this month, Ogier admitted in a statement from Citroen that he is ready to do what is necessary to help the team win a seventh manufacturers' title in nine years.
"I'm at the team's service to help it win more titles," he said.
Ogier tackled the Vosges Rally last week, winning the French Championship counter by almost 10 minutes in an attempt to familiarise himself with the kind of conditions he could face in Alsace next week. That event was the conclusion of a week-long DS3 WRC test for the Citroen team.
"That [win] helped me to gain experience on terrain that's similar to that of Rally France in racing conditions," Ogier said. "We'll see how the race pans out, but I'm going to try and stay close to my team-mate, who's the benchmark on this type of surface."
Despite his Rallye de France win last season, Sebastien Loeb is taking his typically measured approach to the event.
"We have to watch out, as proved by the results in the last two rallies," he said. "A puncture in Germany and we lost victory; a moment's inattention in Australia led to an off and prevents me from tackling the end of the season in a calm state of mind.
"We won Rally France last year, so we're the favourites and we'll do everything possible to honour this position. But victories don't fall off trees!
"Before even thinking of the podium we have to master the difficulties of this very tricky route. Last year, the speeds we reached on the roads really struck me. With potentially capricious weather and innumerable changes of surface, you have to know how to read the road to adapt your braking distances and your trajectories."
Loeb starts his home round of the World Rally Championship with a 15-point advantage over Ford man Mikko Hirvonen.
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