Sébastien Ogier has explained that his Rally Italy Sardinia crash was down to his foot slipping off the brake pedal of his Toyota.
The crash happened not far onto the stage, when Ogier’s Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 locked up and sent him straight off the side of a road and into the shrubbery.
But it all began to unfold for the eight-time champion before he had started the stage, which ultimately led to his mistake.
“Unfortunately we realized one minute before checking in that we had a slow puncture on the rear,” he told DirtFish.
“We had to change the tire again and put a hard [on] unfortunately.
“But we managed to change it in less than a minute, we checked in like two seconds before being late, but that all happened in the mud.”
And it was that mud which led to what followed for the erstwhile rally leader.
“Then I jumped in the car, start the stage, and so stupidly I don’t know… I brake and my foot slipped from the pedal,” he explained.
“My foot [was] full of mud, I slipped from the pedal and then the time that I jumped on the brake again I don’t know… it was too late, I locked the tire, stalled the engine and just… nothing.
“Just stopped one meter too late otherwise we could have gone back. But yeah it was not my day.”
His car was stranded just a few meters off the road, but despite his best efforts, Ogier couldn’t get back on track.
“Yeah we tried everything we could and a couple of spectators helped me, thank you for that,” he said. “But unfortunately we didn’t manage.”
