Sébastien Ogier, fresh from his maiden World Rally victory in Portugal, joins Peugeot UK’s IRC Champions Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle in Sardinia as Peugeot braces itself for a major battle on the gravel stages of Sardinia this weekend. Ogier will swap his Citroën C4 WRC car for a Peugeot 207 S2000, and lines up in Peugeot colours alongside Meeke and Nagle, Bruno Magalhaes, Franz Wittman, Thierry Neuville, Paulo Andreucci and the Turkish lady star Burcu Çetinkaya.
It’s the biggest Peugeot line-up this year, and is there to help Peugeot defend its manufacturers’ title in the face of strong opposition from Skoda’s Juho Hänninen, Jan Kopecky and Guy Wilks. And Meeke and Nagle need all the support they can in a very strong field, especially after the disappointments of Argentina and Canarias.
Co-driver Paul Nagle comments: "We’ve simply got to get everything right in Sardinia. It’s the biggest field of the year so far. Along with the normal suspects we have P-G Andersson in a Mitsubishi and Andreas Mikkelsen in a Fiesta. We're looking for a good result this weekend. It's vital to our championship defence."
Ogier was last seen on an IRC event in Monte Carlo in January when he came agonizingly close to a back-to-back victory in the event. To have the new superstar of world rallying alongside him is a huge boost to driver Kris Meeke: “Sébastien is a huge talent – anyone who can beat Loeb has got to be. It’s great to have him competing for Peugeot and sharing our area of the Service Park. With Séb on board we can pose a genuine challenge to the Skodas. We’ll have to work very hard indeed to beat them. But try and beat them we will, because that’s the best way to score points, not just in the drivers’ title race, but also for Peugeot in the manufacturers.”
The rally starts with a ceremony on Friday night, with 2 full days of action on Saturday and Sunday. Leg one on Saturday consists of six special stages. There will be two runs through the Monte Grighine stage, located to the east of Oristano and televised live on Eurosport, and two passes of the Gonnosno test to the south-east of the town, split by a remote service in Simaxis. Crews then head north to the classic Monte Lerno stage between the towns of Ozieri and Pattada, eventually reaching Olbia in the island's north-east for end of day service and overnight parc fermé.
Sunday morning's action takes competitors south of Olbia for two runs of the Coiluna stage split by the first pass of the Terranova stage and a regroup in Ala dei Sardi. Both Coiluna stages will be shown live on Eurosport. The second is followed by a service halt in Olbia before the two Monte Olia tests and a return to the Terranova stage. After a final service in Olbia, crews cross the finishing ramp in the exclusive Porto Cervo resort on Sunday evening.
