Sébastien Ogier, winner of the past four World Rally Championship drivers’ titles in an unbeatable Volkswagen, will now drive the most beastly Ford Fiesta of them all for M-Sport, the team announced today. Rally’s version of Chuck Norris will be teamed with duck fan and 2016 WRC Driver of the Year Ott Tänak.
Ogier tested the Ford Fiesta WRC in Wales last month after learning that his Volkswagen Motorsport team was withdrawing from the series. Given that Ogier is only four world championships in and the previous Sébastien who dominated WRC (Loeb) pulled off a ridiculous string of nine championships in a row, it’s way too early for Ogier to think about calling it quits. He had to land somewhere, and lucky for M-Sport, it was on their team.
Ogier will remain with his co-driver Julien Ingrassia, who helped him to 475 stage wins, 38 rally wins and 56 podiums since 2008. This pairing isn’t just an excellent rally duo. They’re the thing that goes bump in the night, aided by a bright row of auxiliary lights on dark stages. They’re the stuff of other drivers’ nightmares, way ahead of both Sasquatch and uncomfortable conversations with your mother in scare-factor.
While everyone’s car will be new next year and it’s hard to get a good comparison just yet, the M-Sport car looks quick in the videos we’ve seen. If you were hoping that the agony of Ogier win after Ogier win after more Ogier wins was over with Volkswagen’s withdrawal, sorry! You’ll have to wait a bit longer before you can determine if it’s time to watch someone else win some rallies.
Estonian beast of a driver Ott Tänak will get a new codriver for next year: Martin Järvehova. Tänak had 30 gravel stage wins last year, a stat only beaten by his new teammate Ogier.
As for Ogier’s old Volkswagen teammate, Jari-Matti Latvala is widely rumored to be signing with Toyota, who is set to announce their driver-lineup tomorrow, per Autosport. Way to continue to steal Latvala’s mojo, Ogier—even from another team.
[H/T Not The Duck In Tänak’s Car, But Another Duck]