Autosportfoto

Ogier: 'Rally is still the best'

Despite impressing at a recent Formula One test, Sébastien Ogier says he still prefers driving rally cars and has no plans to make a motorsport career change.

The four-time WRC champion realised one of his boyhood dreams when Red Bull Racing invited him to drive a 2011-spec RB7 car at Austria's Red Bull Ring.

Ogier's tutor on the day, 13-time Grand Prix winner David Coulthard, acknowledged that the 33-year old Frenchman was a star pupil.

"Considering he's jumped in a Grand Prix car for the first time, he's done 100km around a track he doesn't particularly know, I think he's done an exceptional job," Coulthard said.

However, Ogier was quick to dismiss any suggestion that the test might lead to anything more serious in Formula One.

"I think I have more chance to perform well in rally than Formula One. To be honest I think rally is the best. I love rally. It's so fantastic to drive all the different surfaces. I really enjoy it so much," he said.

"I'm very, very thankful to Red Bull for giving me the opportunity to drive the Formula One. It was awesome, but keeping my feet on the ground I know I have no chance to switch to another career - it was just pure fun."

Championship leader Ogier will return to WRC duties next week, behind the wheel of his M-Sport Ford Fiesta at Neste Rally Finland [27 - 30 July].

And even though Finland is the fastest round in the WRC calendar, Ogier admitted it would take time to adjust to his WRC car after sampling F1 machinery.

"I think I'll have to make a kind of reset and remember what the speeds and braking points are with my rally car, because if I try the same I'm probably going to have some trouble," he said.

Zdroj: wrc.com