It was a very good weekend for Citroën as their C3 WRC teams consisting of Sébastien Ogier / Julien Ingrassia and Esapekka Lappi / Janne Ferm achieved a magnificent one-two finish at the Rally Turkey. The results obtained over the weekend also means that the French manufacturer and team are back in the running for the drivers’ and co-drivers’ world titles.
More points were obtained over the weekend as both Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia achieved the third fastest time during the Power Stage. The last time the Citroën Total World Rally Team achieved a one-two victory was back in 2015 during the Rally Argentina event. As for this season, it’s the team’s ninth and tenth podiums and it looks like their pace are back for championship contention.
According to Sébastien Ogier, Citroën Total WRT driver, “We really needed this win if we were to have a chance of getting back into contention in the championship so I’m very happy to bring it home for the team this weekend. We knew that anything could happen at a rally like this where it is really rough, but we managed to keep out of trouble by adopting a smart approach. It’s a good morale boost for everyone as we move into the end of the season. We all know that we have to keep working really hard, but we’ll savour this win and then get down to work again tomorrow.”
As for Esapekka Lappi, Citroën Total WRT driver, he commented, “It was a very demanding event, one which I didn’t really enjoy last year, so I’m obviously pleased with my performance this weekend. We managed to have two very good first legs, displaying the same kind of pace as Seb and Julien, which is no easy feat. By Sunday, the challenge for us was to get the car over the line and help them as much as possible. Our C3 WRC was perfect this weekend. We had no issues whatsoever and that was one of the keys to us securing this great result.”
