World Champion Sébastien Ogier has labelled his Rallye Monte Carlo triumph as a “great surprise” as he claimed victory on his M-Sport debut.
Ogier won the most recent four championships while competing for Volkswagen, but lost his seat when the manufacturer withdrew from the sport at the end of 2016, and opted to switch to M-Sport.
Ogier lost 40 seconds on Friday’s opening stage after going wide but fought back to second and consequently inherited the lead when the dominant Thierry Neuville damaged the suspension of his Hyundai i20, dropping out of contention.
Ogier completed the final three stages on Sunday without drama to collect his fifth Rallye Monte Carlo win, ending M-Sport’s five-year wait for a victory in the process.
“We had one of the most difficult challenges, certainly for our generation of drivers, on this rally this year,” he said.
“And when you add on top of that, I joined M-Sport about a month ago and only had a couple of days in the car.
“When I came here I thought anything could happen – this is Monte, but I was missing some special preparation.
“To be here is a great surprise and I am very happy for the whole team.”
With Jari-Matti Latvala finishing second on Toyota’s comeback, and Citroën’s Kris Meeke demonstrating pace before an error, Ogier believes the championship will be closely fought.
“It’s still a bit early to judge the performance of everyone, it’s very hard to see who’s making the big difference or to see any dominance from anybody,” he said.
“This is a good sign for the championship. I hope at the end of the day we are all there with similar performance, that’s good for the sport, but I also hope we continue in this way [winning].”
