Toyota’s plan to defend its World Rally Championship manufacturers’ crown seemed straightforward. Sébastien Ogier and Kalle Rovanperä would split duties in the third car, each focused on the rallies they like and had been successful on in the past.
That led to a logical conclusion from onlookers heading into the 2024 season: Rovanperä would surely be Toyota’s man on the trio of fast gravel rallies, while Ogier would take the summer off.
When Ogier’s name popped up on the entry lists for both Latvia and Finland, eyebrows were raised. In a program where he’s been able to cherry-pick the rallies he competes on since stepping back from full-time competition, why do the events where he’s typically not thrived relative to his impeccable records elsewhere?
“I think it’s more an idea or general thinking that I would not be a fan of fast rallies,” Ogier told DirtFish. “But honestly, Finland I always liked. It’s a fun rally, it’s the most crazy rally in a rally car to drive, and the sensation in a World Rally Car, they are unique.”
Ogier's last Rally Finland was back in 2021, where he finished fifth
Ogier’s Finland record is solid but not spectacular – he won there during his first title-winning season with the Volkswagen Polo R WRC in 2013 and finished second twice to then-team-mate and his current team principal Jari-Matti Latvala for the following two editions.
“I said to the team that I’m looking forward to go back to Finland again,” said the eight-time world champion. “It’s a home rally [for the team], I want to try to enjoy it one more time and especially by not being first on the road – and see if I’m really that bad on this kind of rally, not being first on the road. That’s the idea, to prove to myself what I can do.”
Latvia was another late addition to Ogier’s schedule – Sami Pajari’s Rally1 debut was initially meant to be on this rally but the fourth car was reallocated to Ogier instead, who will score points in place of Takamoto Katsuta.
While Finland was a rally Ogier had requested, Latvia was a request from Toyota – which he was happy to fulfil. Though he was not able to participate in Poland due to an accident during the recce, he has now entered seven of the first nine rounds of the season.
“Latvia wasn’t planned, that’s true,” said Ogier. “The situation in the championship has probably forced Jari-Matti to push me harder than ever to come here and I accepted the request because I have a lot of respect for my team.
Ogier is grateful to Toyota for allowing him to compete on terms that suit him
“I like that they gave me this chance to compete a bit on-demand these last years; it’s really a luxury situation that I enjoy and I want to also give back sometimes when they ask me. And also, of course, the recent rallies have been good for me. I’ve been strong and happy with the car, comfortable in the car, enjoying what I do again.
“Therefore I gave up some of the free time from this summer. In Germany, my kids, my son is only on holiday now in August, so he’s at school now anyway. If it would have been a holiday season for him, that would have been different, and I would have not been here.”
Though Ogier had indicated his preference for Finland was partially to reassess his ability on fast gravel, he feels Latvia’s WRC debut presents an opportunity to face his Rally1 rivals on a more even footing and provide himself a better chance to win. Traditonally, Ogier has always been strong on brand-new rallies.
“It played a little bit of a role,” Ogier admitted. “When we discussed it, of course that was one parameter. It’s new for everybody. Maybe Mārtiņš [Sesks] coming to Rally1 and being a local driver will of course have more experience than anybody. But generally, I like this situation.
“For me, that’s the essence of rallying. That’s how it should be when you go to a new stage – [it is] how I learned rallying in the past. You come here without videos. I know these days it’s a different story. I don’t do it, but I know that the trend now is to spend days before the event already watching videos from the past and try to learn from it.
“I don’t really enjoy that. I haven’t done that in my career and I don’t know if it’s explained why I’m usually good to take new pacenotes, but we’ll have to prove that again this weekend with this high-speed profile.”
