Sébastien Ogier may have won more Tarmac rounds than any of his rivals using Hankook rubber, but he’s famously never gelled with the Korean firm’s rubber.
The nine-time champion has never been afraid to voice his opinion when it comes to tires, often criticising Pirelli when it was the official tire supplier from 2021-24.
The same has applied to Hankook, but the nine-time champion has candidly admitted to DirtFish he hasn’t been the best at getting the most out of them either.
Asked how other drivers are able to get more from the tire than him, Ogier said: “It’s a good question. And yeah, I think first of all, you know, no excuses, we all have the same tires. So it’s just that it doesn’t really suit my driving style and I’m not able to push because the tire doesn’t accept much load basically.
“And then here [in Japan] with the high temperature and the very high frequency of corners where you put constantly energy on the tires, it just didn’t click for me.
The relentless nature of Japan's stages exposed Ogier's struggles with the tire
“I mean, I know since the beginning we used these tires [this would be a problem for me]. I knew from calculation that they would not really fit my, let’s say, more circuit-style driving. But, again, everybody uses the same, so I have to try to find a way. I should have tried to find a way.”
Ogier then pointed to a previous example during the Michelin era where his driving style didn’t match the rubber.
“Do you remember me in 2014?” he said. “We also had a tire which was not racing at all because we had to use like tires looking like road car tires, and back then I was already struggling and already getting annoyed by Scandinavian drivers which was a bit you know, unusual.
“My team-mates back then Jari-Matti [Latvala] or Andreas [Mikkelsen] were able to be faster than me because back then was the same story, I couldn’t push with this tire.
“But OK, we had a last go on Tarmac with this fantastic car this weekend and it was the last time I had to use this tire here, so now it’s anyway focused on different things.”
The entire second half of the season is staged on gravel, with Hankook working on a revised hard-compound tire for Acropolis Rally Greece later this month (June 25-28).
