At the finish of the most gruelling rally of the year there was a familiar smile on the face of Sebastien Ogier as he and co-driver Vincent Landais unfurled a Tricolore with a nine slapped bang in the centre.
The inaugural Rally Saudi Arabia will forever be associated with a huge moment in World Rally Championship history, as Ogier matched the nine title record of the great Sebastien Loeb and added another chapter to the ‘greatest of driver of all time’ debate.
"What a season, that's for sure. What a fight with Elfyn [Evans] and Scott [Martin]. They have been pushing us to the limit up to the very last stage of the year. It's been a successful season for the whole team - proud to be part of this family,” said Ogier after crossing the finish in third, which was enough to deny Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans by four points.
“The reality is this season, it’s been an amazing run – 11 rallies, 10 times on the podium, six wins. Nine titles itself is not something I was focusing on so much, but joining Seb [Loeb] and Daniel Elena at the top of the FIA records feels good for sure.”
It is fair to say the smiles were limited on Ogier’s face throughout an event that tested crews to the limit and served up drama, incidents and tyre failures in almost every one of the 17 tests held on desert sandy stages and rocky mountainous roads. It was as close as the WRC has ever come to Dakar Rally conditions with Saudi Arabia now taking away the honour of the WRC’s toughest rally from Safari Rally Kenya.
Facing a three-point deficit to Toyota team-mate Evans heading into the ultimate voyage into the unknown, Ogier was adamant that the conditions weren’t conducive for a fair title decider, and one that became a “lottery” with punctures. Ogier was not the only one to voice such concerns with his two title rivals Evans and Kalle Rovanpera (24 points behind Evans) in agreement. But the fact anything could happen certainly meant this was a true three-way fight for the title that delivered box office entertainment amid the backdrop of simply stunning visuals.
Ogier is however the ultimate competitor as his ninth title confirmed once again. He is also not scared to speak his mind and even in celebration he explained the reasons for his critical mentality during the event.
“Finally a smile…. When I do this kind of talk I know I don’t do a favour to myself because I open the possibility of critics that say I’m complaining, but the truth is I don’t complain for myself when I do that,” Ogier explained. “I genuinely think about the sport. It is not good that this showcase is happening and you have a final so intense. For me, it is not acceptable that the top guys of the season fighting for the title with such intensity are somehow so far down in the race. For the rally fan they can understand but if you want to catch a bigger audience, nobody can understand that, so that is why it is not great.
“But now I have a reason to smile. This scenario with all of the parameters which we didn’t have under control were really difficult to handle and I hate that. I always do my best to be in control of everything as much as I can. I still think we managed a great approach in terms of rhythm and risk taking even though small things could have made it completely different. Happy the luck of the champions was on our side again.”
There was however much more than luck on his side. Ogier was among those to suffer from punctures as Hankook’s rubber struggled to cope under the intense punishment they were being put through on the rocky stages, but crucially Ogier avoided having to stop for a wheel change in the stages. Although the platform for snatching the title away from Evans was more than down to survival, it had been set up by pure pace and a perfect balance of knowing when to take risks.
Rally Saudi Arabia certainly threw plenty of curveballs to the crews, but again it highlighted Ogier’s talent that arguably has shone as bright - and perhaps even brighter - than when he stormed to a first world title for Volkswagen in 2013
Evans faced the disadvantage of opening the road that proved to be much more severe than expected, as the Welshman ceded 12.8s to Ogier on stage two after admitting he was too cautious. Such was the extent of the road-cleaning effect, the battle for the title was being played out within the fringes of the top 10. After eight stages on Thursday, Ogier sat in seventh, ahead of Rovanpera and critically 44.1s up on a struggling Evans.
Come the end of a brutal Friday after a chaotic final stage where six of the Rally1 crews picked up one or more punctures, including Ogier, the Frenchman was sitting in sixth. Ogier had ceded a spot to Rovanpera by 0.2s, but he was 2m39.8s clear of Evans in eighth after the latter had to stop to change a wheel on stage 11.
Evans attempted an ‘an or nothing’ attack on the final day on Saturday but again Ogier responded to pull 7.9s further clear on the penultimate stage where Rovanpera had to stop to change a wheel, Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta rolled and victory hopeful M-Sport’s Martins Sesks suffered two punctures and an engine issue. The dramas were enough to vault Ogier into the final podium spot, inflicting further damage to Evans’ fading title hopes. Evans did take a Power Stage victory over Ogier by 7.2s, but it was simply not enough.
“It was a tough event. I think we did what we could in reason. Puncture on Friday morning didn't help, but that's the name of the game, everybody's had their fair share of issues. We're competitors at the end of the day, always want more,” said Evans, after finishing as title runner-up for a fifth time and the third occasion to Ogier, having led the championship after 10 of 14 events.
Rovanpera’s expletive stage-end comment after suffering a puncture in stage 16 summed up his rally and his season. The Finn needed to fight for victory to stand any chance of a fairytale finish to his WRC career, but he had to settle for seventh.
Rally Saudi Arabia certainly threw plenty of curveballs to the crews, but again it highlighted Ogier’s talent that arguably has shone as bright - and perhaps even brighter - than when he stormed to a first world title for Volkswagen in 2013. Winning a world title after sitting out three events was perhaps unthinkable at the start of the year, but Ogier has proved there is very little he cannot achieve in a rally car.
“It has been an incredible run this year and probably the strongest I’ve ever had in the sport in the end. It is never going to be easy to repeat this kind of performance,” he added. “I announced 10 rallies [for next year] 10 titles? It is a bit too early to talk about.”
Neuville ends dismal title defence on a high
Few people would have tipped Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville as the driver standing on the top step of the podium after ending Thursday in fifth position.
But Saudi Arabia’s stages had other ideas as the victory bids for team-mates Adrien Fourmaux and Ott Tanak, Toyota’s Sami Pajari and M-Sport-Ford’s Martins Sesks all unravelled. Tanak and Pajari were taken out of the fight by punctures on stage 13, while leader Fourmaux was handed a one-minute penalty for checking in too early at the end of Friday’s action.
Neuville faced becoming the first driver since Richard Burns in 2002 to fail to win a rally in his title defence, but emerged in the rally lead after stage 15. In the end, the Belgian capitalised on Sesks’ double puncture and engine issue on stage 16 to take only Hyundai’s second win of the year, heading his recovering team-mate Fourmaux by 54.7s.
“At the end I’m happy to win at least one race for my statistics for 10 years now. Winning is important but it is important for the team and a 1-2 for the team is great. Toyota were still very strong and we still have a lot to improve,” Neuville told Autosport. “It has been a tough challenge this year and I lost a bit of faith and fighting spirit. Now we have some positive signs.”
Fourmaux has been knocking on the door on several occasions to take his first WRC win and it was looking as though it could arrive in Saudi Arabia. The Frenchman led Sesks by six seconds at the end of Thursday, with that margin extended to 7.8s before a broken rear suspension arm resulted in his advantage over a rapid Sesks to be cut to 2.9s. Fourmaux lost the lead to the tune of 22.1s after being distracted by dust from the recovering Pajari, who stopped to change a wheel.
Incredibly, after suffering a puncture on stage 14, Fourmaux regained the lead by 2.4s over Sesks, who lost even more time to a puncture of his own on the same stage. But that was wiped out after checking in too early, incurring a bizarre one-minute penalty. So, how did it happen?
"I have always dreamed about Dakar as something I wanted to try, maybe that is why I felt so good in the sun and dunes" Martins Sesks
“It was wrong information [that we could check in early]. For checking in 10 seconds early we got a one-minute penalty,” said Fourmaux. “Co-driver Alex [Coria] did check with a marshal and they said early check in was okay but at the end we got the penalty, there was a bit of a misunderstanding and miscommunication and the wrong information at the beginning that caused it. It is very hard as we finished under a minute behind Thierry. It didn’t ruin our rally. We are the unofficial winners.” Hyundai lodged a protest but it was dismissed by the FIA stewards.
Star of the rally Sesks proves a point in heartbreak
With Rovanpera and Tanak stepping away from the WRC at the end of the season, a new generation will be needed to fill their shoes.
For much of the rally, this new wave of talent was on show as the event was largely dominated by M-Sport’s Sesks, Hyundai’s Fourmaux and Toyota’s 23-year-old young gun Pajari.
M-Sport’s Gregoire Munster summed it up by saying “Sesks was the star of the rally”. It is hard to disagree with that statement as the Latvian, rejoining the Ford team for a seventh outing this year, reminded everyone of his burgeoning talent. It had come as a surprise given Sesks' previous six events this year had offered precious little in terms of speed. But in the unknown of Saudi Arabia the childhood Dakar fan thrived. Sesks did benefit from road position early in the rally, winning three of Thursday’s seven stages. That could so easily have been four stages, had he not misjudged one junction on stage four.
As the rally progressed Sesks became stronger and stronger as he took the fight to Fourmaux, Pajari and Tanak. M-Sport dared to dream of a first win since Tanak’s triumph in Chile in 2023, only for it to be dashed by a double puncture and engine failure on the penultimate stage. Sesks proved he is a talent deserving of a seat for next year.
“For me, the biggest relief is that we had the speed and we will take that with us and now let’s see what happens. I didn’t feel like we were doing something different but it seems to be working this weekend,” said Sesks, who was comfortably faster than full-time M-Sport runners Munster and Josh McErlean, who finished eighth and ninth respectively. “I would say the three months away [has helped]. I have always dreamed about Dakar as something I wanted to try, maybe that is why I felt so good in the sun and dunes.”
After claiming a maiden WRC podium in Japan, Pajari proved that was no fluke after a valiant fight for the rally victory in Saudi Arabia. The Finn has enjoyed a season of two halves, having been very conservative in the first part but the second has seen Toyota’s young star come alive and prove his speed. It could be timely with Oliver Solberg joining the team next year.
A puncture on stage 13 ultimately ended his victory hopes but he can now tick off challenging for a WRC win from his list. Despite the puncture, Pajari came home in fourth ahead of Katsuta, Evans and Rovanpera.
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