Ogier "surprised" at Rally Spain result with new Yaris

In changeable conditions across the three legs of Rally Spain, the eight-time World champion clinched a 16.4 second victory from Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville.

It was the Frenchman’s fourth visit to the top step of the podium at the Salou-based competition and it was also a maiden World Rally Championship win for his new-for-2022 co-driver, Benjamin Veillas.

This season, Ogier is sharing the third GR Yaris Rally1 car with Esapekka Lappi as he tries to divide his time between the World Rally Championship, World Endurance Championship and his family.

Spain was only his fifth appearance driving the new hybrid-powered Rally1 car and his first outing on a pure Tarmac event as he missed out on April’s Croatia Rally and August’s Ypres Rally in Belgium.

His performance was doubly significant as, combined with a third-place result by team-mate Kalle Rovanpera, it ensured Toyota secured the manufacturers’ crown for a sixth time in the history of the competition.

“The most important thing was the manufacturers’ title, for the whole team – they have done a fantastic job the whole season and really deserve it,” reflected Ogier, whose last victory came on last year’s Monza Rally.

“I am also very happy personally to take a win after the bad luck we have had on the events we’ve done this year. It was a very enjoyable weekend, the car was really fun to drive and the times were following.

“It is almost a surprise because I hadn’t driven this car on asphalt for so long – apart from only one day of testing – so it was nice to see straightaway at the beginning of the rally that we were really fast, even with not such a great starting position on Friday.

“From day one [Friday], straight away, I have seen that we had a good chance to fight for the win. Starting from seven on the road it was not the best position, but we were still having good times,” he added.

“I knew from this moment the speed is there but we still needed to bring it all together and finish the weekend and stay out of trouble. That has not always been the case.

“I am very pleased that we safely secured the title for Toyota. It is not often that we achieve all these results. This has been my signature win and I try to seal my titles in style and now we achieved the Manufacturers’ Championship win with a double podium with Kalle, and we made it happen.”