Sebastien Ogier was fastest in the Rally Australia shakedown. That is the last round of the 2018 World Rally Championship where all the titles will be decided after one of the most interesting seasons in the sport.
Ogier driver, who will return to Citroen next season, had a fastest time of 2:53.8min through the 5.07km stage.
Andreas Mikkelsen of Hyundai and Ott Tanak with Toyota were both at 0.2sec from him.
“Shakedown was good. It was very representative of the rally: we have a couple of stages that will use some of the same roads. So it was nice for learning something about the car and to confirm a few things. We made a couple of changes just to see what happened but overall we had a good feeling. It’s always great to be here with the nice sunny weather, but this year it looks like we could also have some rain showers to mix things up a bit. It’s changing so much that it’s difficult to predict what’s coming, but we know there is a lot at stake and we have a big job to do”, Tanak said.
See the best moments of today from the video below. ?? pic.twitter.com/T5Bxrdxl0z
— TGR_WRC (@TGR_WRC) November 15, 2018
Craig Breen (who was fifth fastest) added: “It was a good shakedown to get us back into “gravel” mode after Spain. On my third attempt, I felt really comfortable and the time just came naturally. We then tested some different tyre options. I really enjoyed my first appearance here last year, especially as I was right in the mix before running into trouble on Sunday’s leg. I hope I can be there or thereabouts this year, even though the rain forecast means we might be in for an unpredictable weekend.”
#WRC
?? #Shakedown times1. ?? Ogier
2. ?? #Mikkelsen +0.2
3. ?? Tanak +0.2
4. ?? #Neuville +0.3
5. ?? Breen +0.8
6. ?? #Paddon +0.9
7. ?? Latvala +1.1
8. ?? Lappi +1.2
9. ?? Suninen +1.3
10. ?? Evans +1.4
11. ?? Ostberg +1.6#HMSGOfficial #RallyAustralia— Hyundai Motorsport (@HMSGOfficial) November 15, 2018
