Citroen Racing team manager Sven Smeets has praised Sebastien Ogier for dropping time on Friday's final stage in order to help the French squad's chances of landing its fourth win from five starts.
Ogier slipped 55.5s behind his team-mate and event leader Sebastien Loeb by slowing on stage eight, the repeat of the Lago Omodeo test.
With Loeb leading by 33.2s and Ogier still in contention for a podium finish, Smeets believes Citroen is in the perfect position to claim a strong result heading into the second day of the event.
“Of course it was a very nice gesture to even think about doing what [Ogier] did,” said Smeets. “But if he was to stay second with Mikko [Hirvonen] fourth on the road, it might not have been enough for him [to keep the position] for the last day [due to the road cleaning]. This way we have the cards in two baskets because otherwise we would have had two cars in front and we would not know what is happening behind us. Now [Ogier] is back in charge because he can see what is going on in front of him. We’re happy it’s gone like this.”
Smeets admitted that he hadn’t expected Loeb to be leading the event on pace alone following the opening day of battle, adding that the seven-time world champion is capable of preserving his advantage on day two.
“We did not expect him to be leading tonight by winning stages,” said Smeets. “We knew it was not the worst day in cleaning the roads because some parts were already very clean. His tactic was to go flat-out and get a big advantage for [today] and this is what he’s done. If he does the job like he did on Friday then he can win but we’ll learn a lot after one or two stages.”
Citroen’s works drivers were among a small number who enjoyed trouble-free runs on Friday, a factor Smeets put down to the reliability of the company’s DS3 WRC: “Okay Petter [Solberg] had a small problem but it was a good day otherwise. We’re happy with the performance and the reliability.”
Credit: World Rally Championship (www.wrc.com)
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