Sebastian Ogier says World Rally Championship chief Thierry Neuville ought to “cease crying” and “be taught driving first on the highway” following an eventful opening day on the Acropolis Rally.
Ogier’s feedback aimed on the Hyundai driver arrived after the eight-time world champion gained three of the day’s six phases, beginning second on the highway, behind Neuville, having now emerged because the Belgian’s major title rival, simply 27 factors adrift.
Competing in a partial marketing campaign this season, Ogier will now contest the remaining rounds of the season to spice up Toyota’s producers’ title hopes, and within the course of problem for a ninth drivers’ crown.
The Toyota’s driver tempo on Greece’s tough gravel roads put him into the lead of the rally at noon service over M-Sport-Ford’s Adrien Fourmaux with Neuville in fifth after the latter’s i20 N Rally’s engine was diminished to a few cylinders.
It price him precious time however Fourmaux’s demise after stage 4 handed the Frenchman an 11.7s benefit over Hyundai’s Ott Tanak.
Ogier appeared heading in the right direction to finish Friday with the rally lead earlier than his GR Yaris suffered the same turbo failure that befell his team-mate, Elfyn Evans, on the opening stage.
Consequently, Ogier dropped to fourth general, 2m26.4s from the chief Tanak and 1m41.2s behind Neuville.
Ogier has prior to now been vocal concerning the disadvantages of opening the highway, however this season it’s long-time factors chief Neuville who re-ignited the controversy in Latvia having led the championship for the reason that opening spherical in Monte Carlo.
Sébastien Ogier, Vincent Landais, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photograph by: Toyota Racing
When requested concerning the turbo situation suffered by Evans and if the workforce had although to alter the part on his automotive at noon service, Ogier supplied some sturdy phrases in the direction of his title rival.
“From my aspect I didn’t know [about Elfyn’s turbo issue] I simply drove my race usually and was feeling fairly good within the automotive till this second and we did one of the best job we might,” stated Ogier.
“We proved that the championship chief will not be that quick actually as a result of he was first on the highway and we had been second on the highway and we took 45 seconds in 4 phases, perhaps he ought to cease crying and be taught driving first on the highway.”
Toyota is but to grasp the reason for Ogier’s turbo drawback however it may very well be much like the problem suffered by Evans, who was pressured to finish the ultimate part of the opening stage and the next two morning checks in highway mode. The Welshman, who additionally picked up a puncture in stage one, misplaced nearly 10 minutes altogether.
Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photograph by: Toyota Racing
“With Elfyn we all know what’s the root trigger however with Seb for the time being we’re assuming it’s one thing related, however till we get the components we will’t say for certain. It seems like a difficulty with the turbo charger,” stated Toyota technical director Tom Fowler.
“It’s an enormous disappointment as a result of clearly it’s a rally after Finland the place we now have a extremely sturdy efficiency within the automotive, and in Finland we didn’t capitalise on that, and it seems like right here we aren’t going to capitalise on the potential efficiency each the automotive and the drivers have.”
Workforce principal Jari-Matti Latvala is not sure if the failure is all the way down to a defective batch of elements, however did reveal that the workforce had been unable to alter the turbo on Ogier’s automotive as a precaution at noon service as delays to the opening phases brought on by accidents.
“This morning we had been in a position to change the turbo for Elfyn Evans however we couldn’t change for Seb due to the time restrict,” stated Latvala.
“We had been speculated to have a flexi service however as a result of the stage was delayed on SS1 and SS2 it meant the organisers needed to lower the flexi service away.
“As a substitute of getting 12 mechanics engaged on one automotive we had six guys working for one automotive and we had different issues to alter. We had time for Elfyn however we didn’t have time for Seb after which it broke down.
“In fact Hyundai is in a robust place [1-2-3] going into Saturday, we have to keep affected person as a result of issues can occur. If we now have issues they could have issues you by no means know. However with this warmth and this roughness it’s asking rather a lot from the automotive.”