Sébastien Ogier will be chasing his first World Rally Championship hat-trick in eight years when he starts next week’s Rally Italy Sardinia.
Toyota’s French part-timer has been on stellar form this season, finishing second in Monte Carlo, then winning Croatia and Portugal back-to-back. Success in Sardinia would mean three on the bounce for the first time since Catalunya in 2016.
That 2016 run actually encompassed four successive wins (Germany, Corsica, Catalunya and GB) aboard his Volkswagen Polo R WRC.
Since then, he’s come close to a hat-trick twice, landing three from four at the top of the 2018 season and in his final full year in the championship, 2021.
Can four-time Sardinia winner Ogier make Neuville look on enviously again this year?
“We have been on a good run recently with our wins in Croatia and Portugal,” said the eight-time champion. “We would, of course, like to try and carry on like this – so the target for Sardinia has to be to continue the sequence if we can.”
Nobody has more WRC wins in Sardinia than Ogier – although his countryman Sébastien Loeb shares the record with him on four victories.
“I think we are in a good position [to win],” said Ogier. “We had a good test there recently, and in Portugal when the surface was sandier and more like Sardinia the car was working well, so hopefully that can be the case there as well.
“It’s always a difficult challenge with long stages and the need for tire management, but it’s a rally that I learned to love and to master over my career and I hope we can have another successful trip there.”
GR Yaris Rally1 driver Ogier will start a shortened Rally Italia Sardinia (the first WRC sprint-style event) fifth on the road on Friday (May 31) afternoon.
