Sebastien Ogier

Unless Mikko can push the Citroen team orders to wait for last stages of GB, there is no real chance for Ogier to break them. But for that situation to even occur is quite unlikely, and one rally in between, so not much point to discuss.

Though I think it's a very valid speculation to question if Quesnel is really done and over with his agenda... Is he playing a two-face for both the media and the PSA management? It's still Quesnel-Ogier vs PSA-Loeb as far as I'm concerned. And due to what happened in France, which btw still smells, the whole thing is wide open.

You can't dictate Loeb to walk away with this one.. I think he will rise to the challenge, but he can't afford a moment of bad luck, and he hasn't had this type of pressure ever before; Both from the outside and inside of his team, even with 2 drivers at the very end of the season. If he can't close in next behind Ogier in Spain, so they can swap positions, then Ogier has a very real chance to snatch this title.

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Originally Posted by wildsir

The common denominator is Citroen. I would be good in a Citroen....

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No, no you wouldn't. That is what excuse people use to justify why Loeb gets better results than their favourite driver.

In reality, the Ford driver who was closest to Loeb in terms of talent in the last five years was Marcus Gronholm, and even he could not pull off the consistency rally after rally that Loeb did.

World Rally Championship - News - Quesnel proud of Ogier

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Originally Posted by dimviii

World Rally Championship - News - Quesnel proud of Ogier

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Despite openly backing Ogier, Quesnel has stated that Ogier’s team-mate Sebastien Loeb will continue to have Citroen’s full support in his bid for an eighth world title.

“He’s the [world championship] leader and that means the focus is Sebastien Loeb,” said Quesnel.

Funny and sporty Quesnel....lol :D

wigget andrew husrey

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Originally Posted by Plan9

The point I wanted to make is that Ogier has now won more rallies this season than Loeb.

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Another statistic than wins - and not to take anything away from Ogier, just a reminder. And where does this leave Hirvonen? Exactly where he is supposed to be, fourth:

STAGE WINS

Loeb, Sebastien (FR) 55
Latvala, Jari-Matti (FI) 51
Ogier, Sebastien (FR) 50
Hirvonen, Mikko (FI) 32
Solberg, Petter (NO) 26
Sordo, Dani(SP) 4
Andersson, Per-Gunnar (SE) 4
Ostberg, Mads (NO) 4
Ketomaa, Jari (FI) 1

(Statistics from Jonkka and wrc.com)

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Originally Posted by bretddog

Though I think it's a very valid speculation to question if Quesnel is really done and over with his agenda...

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Of course he is, otherwise he won't have a job efter Rally Spain.

My guess it that Citroën will approach Rally Spain this way...

Priority 1: Seal the Manufacturers championship

Priority 2: Make sure that Ogier finish in top 3 - and doesn't take the fight to Loeb and Sordo (Manu points are more important that drivers points in this rally as Citroën doesn't want to fight for both championships in GB). This message will be made very clear to Ogier and if he doesn't obey he won't driver rally GB in a DS3.

Priority 3: Upgrade PSWRT to full factory support like they did in 2009 (from private Xsara to PH-Sport C4). PSolberg will be treated like Loeb and Sordo hoping he can take points from Hirvonen.

Priority 4: Make sure that Ogier finish in front of Hirvonen in case Loeb doesn't score more points than Hirvonen, so that Ogier can act as backup challenge for the championship.

Priority 5: If nessesary ask Ogier to get in position between Latvala and Hirvonen to see how Ford will react - but only if Loeb is safely in front. The optimal would be if Latvala is let lose and Ford fall into that trap.

Priority 6: Make sure that Ogier and PSolberg take Powerstage points from Hirvonen - and hoping Sordo will do the same.

If all goes to plan (which is rarely does) Hirvonen will get somewhere between 4th and 6th position which will give Loeb a good points-margin and Citroën will seal the Manu Championship.

Ogier will only win the championship if Loeb makes another mistake or the car fails on him again, which is unlikely since it seems Loeb drives even better under pressure.

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Originally Posted by Hartusvuori

Another statistic than wins - and not to take anything away from Ogier, just a reminder. And where does this leave Hirvonen? Exactly where he is supposed to be, fourth:

STAGE WINS

Loeb, Sebastien (FR) 55
Latvala, Jari-Matti (FI) 51
Ogier, Sebastien (FR) 50
Hirvonen, Mikko (FI) 32
Solberg, Petter (NO) 26
Sordo, Dani(SP) 4
Andersson, Per-Gunnar (SE) 4
Ostberg, Mads (NO) 4
Ketomaa, Jari (FI) 1

(Statistics from Jonkka and wrc.com)

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When you put it that way it looks like Latvala has had a difficult time (i.e. handing Australia, France results to Mikko). I guess that in rally like in any other profession what people should get and will get have to be separated to get what's best for the team. These decisions probably don't always seem fair to the outsider.

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Originally Posted by Plan9

When you put it that way it looks like Latvala has had a difficult time (i.e. handing Australia, France results to Mikko). I guess that in rally like in any other profession what people should get and will get have to be separated to get what's best for the team. These decisions probably don't always seem fair to the outsider.

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+1 :up: It may have been a season that JML will rather forget, but he has acted incredibly proffessionally, and thats a good thing to have on his CV for the future.