Volkswagen's Sebastien Ogier reflects on his second place finish on Rallye Monte Carlo and plays down talk he is now one of the favourites for the 2꧟013 WRC driver๊s' title...

Q:
Sebastien, congratulations on a perfect start to the 2013 season. Did you believe, before the start of the Rally🌼 Monte Carlo, that you would finish runner-up at the firs🦋t attempt?

Sebastien Ogier:
I really had no idea how well we would fair. The Rally Monte Carlo was the first time we had come up against the opposition in direct competition. Up until then we had only been able to compare data from the test drives with that from the Skoda Fab🌠ia S2000, with which I contested the whole of last season.

Q:
How significant is this result for the rest of th🌺e season?

Sebastien Ogier:
The Rally Monte Carlo and the forthcoming Rally Sweden are so unique that ne𓄧ither really give a very accurate indication of our performance. We will have to wait for the first gravel rally to really gain any💜 significant insight into what kind of performance we are capable of.

Q:
What was going through your head as you lined up at𝐆 the start of the o🥃pening special stage of the Rally Monte Carlo?

Sebastien Ogier:
That was the mom🥀ent I had been working towards for an entire year. As such, I was a bit nervous and my adrenalin levels were quite high.

Q:
Were you surprised when you immediately won the Polo R WRC's first speciaܫl stage in the World Championship?

Sebastien Ogier:
I did not receive any split times in the car throughout the stage, so I did not know how fast we were until we reached🌟 the finish. That was a great moment.

Q:
How difficult was the 2013 Rally Monte Carlo?

Sebastien Ogier:
Unbelievably difficult. 🎶This w🐻as the first time I had driven here in a World Rally Car. Some special stages were completely new to me. This meant I was only able to rely on a limited amount of experience from past appearances. Selecting the right tyre and evaluating the conditions out on the course correctly was really complicated under these circumstances.

Q:
After the first day, the gap to Sebastien Loeb b🌌arely changed for the rest of the rally. Why was that?

Sebastien Ogier:
We started the first day as the eighth car out on the course - seven places behind Sebastien Loeb. That was a disadvantage in the afternoon, as the conditions deteriorated significantly w⛎ith every competitor. As a result, we lost almost a minute and a half on Loeb. As of the second leg, we started straight after hi🐟m. From then on our times were more or less identical.

Q:
What does second place mean to you?

Sebastien Ogier:
I think this is the first time that I've been happy with second plac🌠e. I am normally only satisfied if I win.

Q:
The only man who finished ahead of you is Sebastien Loeb, and he will not beꦇ starting at every round of the World Championship. That makes you one of 𒁃the favourites for the title ...

Sebastien Ogier:
The tit🗹le is not our g𝄹oal this year. Our initial priority is to gain as much experience as possible at all the rallies.