Jyväskylä (Finland) (AFP)
Six-time world rally champion Sébastien Ogier confirmed on Thursday that he will no longer be taking part in the World Rally Championship (WRC) at the end of the 2020 season.
"I still have 20 rallies to play if you count down," he said in an interview with the official WRC website in Jyväskylä, where the Rally Finland started Thursday night.
Sébastien Ogier had signed for two years with the Citroën team for the 2019 and 2020 seasons but had repeatedly suggested that it would be his last seasons at the highest level.
"It's not because I have this idea in mind that I'm going to drive slower," he assured, however, while he currently occupies the 2nd place in the leader's 4-point world championship standings. Estonian Ött Tänak (Toyota), with another 6 races to go by the end of the season.
Sébastien Ogier, 35, said that he wanted to spend more time with his family. In July, he also became the ambassador of the new Extreme-E formula that, starting in 2021, will make electric SUVs in ecologically endangered regions such as the Sahara, the Himalayas and the Arctic. He will take an active part in the development of the Odyssey 21, the vehicle that competitors will use in this new discipline.
The native of Gap (south-east of France), has been racing in the WRC since 2009 and has won six titles including four with Volkswagen (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016) and two with M-Sport Ford (2017 and 2018).
He had also raced at Citroën at the start of his WRC career with the other French rally legend Sébastien Loeb, a nine-time world champion between 2004 and 2012. His best result was then a 3rd place at the world championship in 2011.
© 2019 AFP