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Ogier Wins The Championship By 27 Points Over Evans

Sebastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia took victory in Sunday’s FIA World Rally Championship 2021 season-ending Forum8 ACI Rally Monza in Italy, coming home 7.3s ahead of his teammate Elfyn Evans and in doing so won the championship by 27 points from the Welshman.

Speaking following the event, the Frenchman said:

I just feel kind of empty right now because it’s always an exhausting season.

“We give so much into it. I really need to go to every single team member and give them my big thanks, because without them we are nothing. They are world champions today as well, we are manufacturer, driver and co-driver champions.”

Video courtesy of the WRC via the Red Bull Content Pool.
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Motorsport News Sport

Ogier On The Verge Of Eighth WRC Title

Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Sebastien Ogier is on the verge of claiming his eighth FIA World Rally Championship title after a strong second day in the season-ending ACI Rally Monza in Italt.

The rally lead changed hands five times over six stages on Saturday and speaking following the action, Ogier said:

“I didn’t expect to regain the lead tonight,” he admitted. “I’m taking a bit less risk and losing a bit of time. We hope there will be emotion, and some very strong ones tomorrow. A win would be the cherry on the cake, but the main target we are chasing is not the rally win.”

Sebastien Ogier

Leading positions after Saturday

  1. S Ogier / J Ingrassia FRA Toyota Yaris 2hr 13min 27.2sec
  2. E Evans / S Martin GBR Toyota Yaris +0.5sec
  3. D Sordo / C Carrera ESP Hyundai i20 +27.4sec
  4. T Neuville / M Wydaeghe BEL Hyundai i20 +46.6sec
  5. O Solberg / E Edmondson SWE Hyundai i20 +1min 21.2sec
  6. T Katsuta / A Johnston GBR Toyota Yaris +1min 38.8sec

Sebastien Ogier just needs a top three finish on Sunday to claim the championship win.

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Motorsport News Sport

Hyundai In Contention For A Podium In Monza

Hyundai Motorsport head into Sunday’s final day of action at ACI Rally Monza with an opportunity to finish the season with a podium as Dani Sordo currently occupies third place overall.

speaking following the second day of action he said:

Honestly, I am quite happy with how today has gone for us. We had some amazing stages in the mountains, and the circuit sections were better as well. We made some important modifications to the car at the end of Friday, which made it easier to drive and gave me more confidence. The stages were also drier, so we had a bit more grip as well. We are currently in the third-place podium position, which is great, however there is a small but tricky final day awaiting us. We will do our best to keep our advantage over Thierry.”

Dani Sordo

Thierry Neuville had some issues during SS9 and this has put the Belgian out of contention for now of a podium finish and speaking following the action he said:

After the first day didn’t go as expected, we knew we had to push to catch back time. It worked well on the opening stage, setting the fastest time, but we wanted to improve more on the next one. Unfortunately, we had cold tyres and two corners into the stage we lost the rear, ripping off the bumper. We lost a position to Dani, and we’re still fighting to get it back. Still, I’ve been able to enjoy myself today, especially in the mountain stages; these cars are incredible, there has been a great atmosphere, lots of spectators and nice weather, it is really fantastic!”

Thierry Neuville

Teemu Suninen was happy with the progress he has made today moving ahead of M-Sport Ford’s Gus Greensmith into seventh place overall and speaking following the action he said:

“I am pleased with the improvements we have made since yesterday, and especially in the first four stages. I was able to be confident in the car, and the driving was OK. I was still struggling on the gravel and muddy places in the Monza circuit stages. Still, we have taken a good step forward and that’s positive. I’m enjoying myself a lot, and it’s nice to see what the Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC can do; it seems a strong car, so we will try to improve again on the final three stages tomorrow.”

Teemu Suninen

Hyundai Motorsports Team Principal Andrea Adamo commented on the day’s action saying:

All in all, it has been a day that has not been so good for us, with some incidents that have penalised our cars. We were ready to try and catch up some of the lost time from yesterday, but instead we’ve been pushed back even more. We have had some stage wins that showed the level of competitiveness we can demonstrate, but it’s clearly not enough. All we can do now is see what tomorrow brings for the final day of the championship.”

Andrea Adamo