WRC reporter Julian Porter was having none of it. This was, as he pointed out, the Monte Carlo Rally. The same one Sébastien Ogier had made his own. How was he being beaten?
Standing at the stage end, just north of Chaudon-Norante on Sunday, Porter was surprised at the splits he was seeing. Ogier was leaking more time to Thierry Neuville. We’d been here before, Ogier had always found something.
After the 11-mile penultimate stage, Thierry Neuville’s top-of-the-table advantage had mushroomed from eight to 13.5 seconds.
The Toyota star admitted he thought the battle was done after his Belgian rival had taken time out of him on the final day’s opener. Magnanimously, he offered early congratulations to Neuville.
Ogier had no answer to Neuville's Sunday charge on the Monte
Porter listened, thought about it, then couldn’t help himself. Instinctively, he did his job.
“I’m surprised,” said the man with the mic. “I just expected you to give everything until the last stage…”
Ogier accepted the point and responded: “I tried. It was a good stage, but like I said, I’m never the one taking stupid risk when it’s not really worth it.”
And that, we thought, was that. But no. There was more.
“It’s Monte Carlo though,” added Porter, tenaciously. “You were going for a 10th win…”
There’s great mutual respect between Ogier and Porter, they’ve worked together for years. It was time for the champ to bring this one to a close. So he did.
“Yeah,” he smiled, “but I have nine and nobody have that, so it’s not that bad.”
The Monte is home turf for Ogier, who was born and raised in Gap
There wasn’t a hint of haughtiness. It was a simple statement of fact. And it was made by a man who knew his race was run.
Immediately the talk in the DirtFish comms group was that this was it. This was Ogier’s last Monte. You could hear it in his voice, apparently. Opinion was split. Let’s remember the context of the rally the Gap star had endured, losing his uncle at the start of the week and fighting not just Neuville, but the full range of human emotion.
Ultimately though, we thought maybe that was it.
Then, the Monte master put us right.
No-one has won the Monte more times than Ogier
When we talked of 10 a few hours later, Ogier told DirtFish: “Of course, 10 is a nice number… but today is not the end of the war for me to manage this 10th.”
It’s still on. He’s not done.
He then offered a rundown on his performances in the French Alps down the years – underlining why he wasn’t bouncing off the ceiling at missing out on number 10.
“This was my 15th start here this weekend,” he added. “Thirteen times I have finished on the podium with nine wins and four second places – this consistency on the toughest rally of the year is something I can be proud of.”
No arguments here. Same time, same place next year, Séb.
