Fresh from claiming his ninth World Rally Championship title, Sébastien Ogier has confirmed he will compete at 10 of next year’s 14 events.
Ogier has competed on a part-time basis since winning his eighth title in 2021, but scored enough points in the 11 events he started in 2025 to beat Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans to the championship by four points.
He will once again compete for Toyota in 2026, with the team confirming Ogier will drive “more than half of the seasonʼs rounds” when it unveiled its driver lineup after Rally Japan.
However in a bid to stop speculation about his program in 2026, Ogier confirmed on the podium in Saudi Arabia how many rounds he will actually contest next year.
“One thing is for sure: I don’t have the motivation anymore to go a full year,” Ogier said. “It makes such a difference when you have this couple of weeks more at home and also especially this year I had to miss, for the first time, one holiday week of my son and it was during Rally Japan. So it was worth the trip, I needed those points, but yeah it didn’t feel so great and I want to avoid that as much as I can.
“So that’s why I announced next year I won’t be competing when he has holiday. I just found a great balance like this so next year, I will announce it now because I just wanted to stop the speculation of when is he coming or not and sometimes I feel exhausted with that. And I want also to close the mouth of the people who just say ‘oh he just comes when he feels it’s easier or whatever’ so just simple: you look the calendar, when it’s a German school holiday I won’t be there and otherwise I will make 10 rallies. And that’s it.”
Missing four events next season would not make winning a record-breaking 10th championship impossible for Ogier, should he replicate his 2025 performances. But he’s well aware that “would be far from easy”.
He said: “The reality is this season, it’s been an amazing run – 11 rallies, 10 times on the podium, six wins. It’s been, I don’t know the average point, but it’s incredible. And these kind of things, you know, in motorsport, there’s so many parameters you don’t control.
“On weekends like this [in Saudi Arabia], for example, that was the extreme case, but it’s happened often, you know. I try, I have many elements in my control, but so many things can happen. And also, I’m human, you know, everybody does mistakes.
“And this year, it’s probably one of my best seasons ever in terms of performance and in terms of consistency. So it worked all together, the stars got aligned, and now I have the chance to get these nine titles. But yeah, to press repeat in a season like this would be far from easy.”
