Citroen’s Sebastien Ogier says he was uncertain if his C3 would make it to the end of Rally Monte Carlo after encountering throttle issues on the final day of the event.
Ogier had 4.3 seconds in hand over Thierry Neuville starting Sunday but the advantage had shrunk to 0.4 seconds going into the powerstage.
The six-time champion held on to take victory with the second fastest time on the closing stage of the rally but admitted that the throttle issues had been worrying for the crew.
"It made our life difficult and stressful because I didn’t know if it would fail completely or push us out of the road at some point because the car was often staying with some throttle, even when I lifted off,” Ogier said.
"I didn’t know if I could finish. It wasn’t so nice to drive.
"We managed to make a small fix, It wasn’t perfect but it avoided that problem of pushing. I didn’t have the response I wanted but at least I could drive."
2019 is the seventh time that the Frenchman has won at his home rally and this year’s success came on his first outing back with the Citroen squad.
"Everyone knows that Monte is my rally, the one I want to win the most and, of course, with the problem today I wasn’t sure it would happen.
“This one is really, really special – six in a row here in Monte with three different cars, I think we can be proud of that,"
