Sébastien Ogier is angry at himself for suffering slow starts to both Friday and Saturday morning in Chile
Photography by Toyota
Words by Luke Barry & Colin Clark
Sébastien Ogier is on the cusp of extending his flawless podium run in the 2025 World Rally Championship season – and potentially adding a fifth win to his tally, too.
Yet he says his performance has “not been good enough” so far at Rally Chile.
How?
“It’s a good question, but yesterday morning I was clearly missing a feeling and I was not feeling comfortable in the car,” Ogier told DirtFish.
“This morning I was too cautious, and way too cautious. I just told the other guys that it’s a bit of a shame. I mean obviously I must be satisfied with my afternoons yesterday and today, but overall the days are not good enough from my point of view because if I would not mess up these first stages both times, that would be 25 seconds that I just gave away like this so that would make my life a little bit more easier.
“But the most important [thing] is we are in the lead tonight and that’s what matters the most. And anyway tomorrow there are still 10 extra bonus points to catch, it’s anyway no day you can relax, so we’ll just have to try to make it right from the first one this time.”
Ogier leads by 6.3s, but has given up 25s+ through slow starts to both mornings so far
Ogier’s calculation is accurate. The eight-time champion dropped 9.2s on the very first stage of the rally on Friday, struggling to feel comfortable behind the wheel of his Toyota.
On Saturday morning’s opener he gave up even more: 16.4s, explained by simply being too careful in the wet. That allowed team-mate and title rival Elfyn Evans to soar past him, but three stage wins from the three afternoon tests enabled Ogier to move into a 6.3s lead at the close of play.
The question is: has he learned his lesson?
“At least the condition tomorrow morning should be a bit more stable,” he said. “It looks like there is no rain forecasted this night, so I think we can expect a bit more stable and maybe, yeah, you know, that helps my eternal approach, you know, which is never full risk and to always try to be fully in control.
“And sometimes this, how do you say, wish to be fully in control means I missed a bit of craziness sometimes, but again, I repeat it every single time: I think it has benefited me more than the opposite in my career.
“But OK tomorrow, of course, we clearly have a target: be on the rhythm straight away in stage one.”
Might there be a point where Ogier throws caution to the wind and throws everything at it, care-free?
“No,” he replied. “I mean, I think it’s always been like this and it didn’t really change now. It would have been exactly the same if I would just be here as a one shot. So that’s just my way of doing rallies and driving.
“Some years ago, having the split in the time was a good help. I would have seen after a couple of kilometers, ‘oh, I’m really in the wrong rhythm’ and then I would have changed the gear.
“But today, I didn’t get this information, as we don’t get that anymore. And it was a bad surprise on the finish line, and I was very angry with myself.”
Evans has led Rally Chile twice, but couldn't match his team-mate on Saturday afternoon
Instead it’s Evans who ended the day disappointed.
He told DirtFish: ” I’m a bit disappointed with the afternoon, obviously. The wear was much less than expected, actually, with the tires, which was a bit of a surprise.
“Obviously, we’ve seen so much wear here in the past, and I was a bit conservative, especially the first one of the loop. A bit also at the start of the second one. But, you know, everybody’s in the same boat and Séb did a great job.
“But it means obviously we’ve dropped a bit behind him now, but it’s still close enough to keep it exciting for tomorrow.”
Words:Luke Barry
Tags: Rally Chile, Rally Chile 2025, Sébastien Ogier, WRC, WRC 2025
Publish Date September 14, 2025 DirtFish 
https://dirtfish-editorial.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2025/09/OGIER11CHL25tb208-780x1170.jpg September 14, 2025
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