Le Castellet (France) (AFP)

"As long as we stay in the battle, everything is fine," French driver Sébastien Ogier (Citroën) said Wednesday, three days after losing the overall WRC title to Estonian Ott Tänak ( Toyota).

"It was not a fantastic weekend for us but in the end, the accounting operation is not so bad," he told AFP, visiting the circuit of Castellet where Sunday runs the Grand Prix de France Formula 1.

Forced to retire at the Rally of Sardinia, Ogier is now four points behind Tänak (5th in the Italian event), but draws a positive balance in six races at the end of the season.

"Before Sardinia, I would have said it was a very good start to the season, but it's still a good record and everything is very open for the title," he said.

Back this season in the Citroën team, the Gapençais started from scratch after winning in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 with Volkswagen Motorsport and in 2017 and 2018 with M-Sport.

- "Beautiful fights" -

But Ogier remains generally satisfied with the evolution of his C3. "If you ask a driver, he will always tell you that his car is not progressing fast enough," he joked.

But the man with 46 victories in 144 rallies "thinks it's going in the right direction, I'm starting to know it better, to better use the settings, so I hope that with the changes of the second season we will still be more efficient".

"The title will be played on details," thinks the 35-year-old driver.

But with his co-driver Julien Ingrassia, Ogier feels "well positioned" to raise a seventh world crown.

"We are three drivers to have real chances to fight for the title," he said, the Belgian Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) being three lengths behind him and seven behind Tänak.

"It means that we will not have to let go and we will have to have the same regularity for the second half of the season," commented Ogier.

"We are more or less all at the same level, he added.On the first part of the season, our results are very similar.But it makes great fights and it is in adversity that we appreciate more the beautiful victories ... Honestly I am very happy to have such rivals. "

Already victorious this season in Monte Carlo and Mexico, Ogier enjoys a summer break of six weeks. He will return to competition in Finland on August 1st.

? 2019 AFP