Jari-Matti Latvala has been both fortunate and unfortunate to have seen the very best of Sébastien Ogier up-close.
When they were team-mates at Volkswagen, the Finn struggled to match the Frenchman on a consistent enough basis as he streaked away to win four consecutive titles.
By the time Ogier won his eighth crown in 2021, Latvala could sit back and appreciate it rather more. After all, that was his first season as Toyota’s team principal and he was now Ogier’s boss.
Since then, Ogier has continued to regularly deliver victories for Toyota and Latvala, even on a part-time schedule. After taking his third win of season in Finland, he committed to contesting the rest of the season, primarily to help his team retain its manufacturers’ title, but also with the potential to fight for a ninth drivers’ championship.
However, an extremely rare series of mistakes have proven costly over the past three events. None more so than when he understeered into the trees on the penultimate stage of the Central European Rally. Ogier was visibly frustrated, and also apologetic to his team.
CER exit followed crashes in Greece and Chile
“He called me [after the crash] and he was very, very disappointed,” Latvala said. “I think this was hurting him a lot. He said it’s not been normal what’s happened to him, with three accidents in a row.”
On Acropolis Rally Greece, fighting back from losing the lead with a turbo issue on Friday, Ogier was running second overall and on for top points from Sunday until he rolled on the powerstage – the result of an early puncture that he didn’t react quickly enough to. On that occasion, Ogier could at least get his car to the final time control to bank the points scored on Saturday.
In Chile, Ogier took an early lead on Friday morning before he ran wide into a bank on the third stage and had to stop to change a wheel, before retiring on Saturday after hitting a rock. He returned to score a maximum 12 points on Sunday.
“He was already frustrated in Chile,” Latvala said. “After Greece he was still really happy with the fighting spirit, Chile was frustrating and then today [at CER] was really frustrating for him. I’ve seen him [frustrated before] but maybe this was one of the most difficult days for him for a long time.
“But this is rallying and I said to him, we had to push, you had to push, we had to go for it, it didn’t work out. The speed is the most important thing. Without the speed then you have nothing.”
