We look at how 2010 was the year that French rally driver Sébastien Ogier rushed to the fore.
The journey
A protegé of the Peugeot-Citroën motorsport set-up, Ogier’s first exposure as a top driver came, as it so often does, in a domestic championship, in Ogier’s case the French Peugeot 206 Cup in 2007. This led to a Junior World Rally Championship (JWRC) drive in a sister-company Citroën C2, and Ogier stormed to the 2008 title in his debut season. He won the first event in which he competed in Mexico, also grabbing the first ever WRC point for a JWRC driver with eighth overall, and his title win came with a second place at the French round of the WRC in 2008, the Tour de Corse in Corsica. Citroën rewarded Ogier with a guest drive at Rally GB, with a turbocharged Junior Team C4 instead of his usual 1,600cc normally-aspirated C2. In a sign of things to come, Ogier won stage one outright and briefly led the rally! A 2009 Junior Team berth brought a terrific second place behind Jari-Matti Latvala’s Ford Focus in the Acropolis Rally, the first podium for a non-works C4. Ogier – along with his co-driver Julien Ingrassia – was, to no one’s surprise, retained by Citroën’s Junior Team for this year. 2010’s challenge began with a thrilling three-way fight for glory on Mexican soil with Sébastien Loeb and Petter Solberg (both also in C4s), then a spin at the very end of Rally New Zealand that just saw him miss out on a debut victory.
The big event
But the highlight of Seb’s year came in Portugal this year, when the much-deserved first win did arrive for him in the Algarve. The impressed Citroën team, having already added events to the talented Ogier’s Junior Team schedule, now stepped this up with a guest slot in a full works drive. A second place in Finland and another win in Japan followed for the impressive Ogier. Not bad for three seasons’ work…
Best quotes of the year
"No, not really. OK, maybe a bit!"
Seb responds decisively to the question of whether he was surprised to take the lead on stage 4 of the Rally de Portugal, an event he, of course, went on to win.
“It’s difficult for me to explain my feelings now. Sébastien Loeb is the best driver ever in rallying, so to fight with him – what a feeling. It’s special"
Ogier soaks up the feeling of beating countryman Loeb by 7.9 seconds to take his maiden win.
Best images 
McKlein/Red Bull Photofiles
Loeb acknowledged a dangerous new rival as the two embraced after Ogier’s Portugal victory.
Pierre Dutilleux/Red Bull Photofiles
Ogier adds a slightly less subtle bit of branding to his drive – this was Red Bull Caisses à Savon, a soapbox derby in Lyon, not the Rallye France in Alsace!
What’s next, in 2011?
The least surprising news in the post-season WRC headlines was that Ogier had secured the full Citroën Total WRC drive in the brand-new DS3 WRC replacing the C4 next year when S2000 regulations also arrive, meaning he will be head-to-head with Loeb. The excitement for French fans having two drivers fighting tooth and nail within the same team… should be interesting!
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