After Sébastien Ogier won his first rally of the season at RallyRACC Catalunya – Costa Daurada last weekend with his five rounds old co-driver Benjamin Veillas, Ogier has now announced he will be splitting up the partnership and signed a new co-driver for the upcoming FORUM8 Rally Japan next month.
The Frenchman has run a part-time program this season and after many successful years with Julien Ingrassia reading the notes, he teamed up with Veillas for this season but that partnership was short-lived despite Veillas guiding Ogier to victory in Spain, which also was the first win for Veillas on top-level.
For Japan and onwards, Ogier will be teaming up with fellow Frenchman Vincent Landais, who has been the co-driver for the upcoming talent Pierre-Louis Loubet in the M-Sport Ford World Rally Team outfit.
“Firstly I want to say thank you to Benjamin for his hard work and application during our programme of rallies this year, it was a special moment to share our first victory together in Spain. Now that the team has secured all three championships and the main targets for the season have been achieved, we would of course like to finish on a high at the home rally for Toyota in Japan.” Ogier explained.
“But this final round is also a chance to prepare and evaluate some things for the future and to give an opportunity to Vincent, who is a talented and motivated young co-driver. He has been working with us in our gravel crew and after this nice experience I am excited to compete in our first rally together and to see how it works out.”
“It will be a big honour to join Seb and the team for Rally Japan, Seb and Julien have been like role models for every French driver and co-driver, so this is a great opportunity and one that I’m very proud of. Julien has been helping me a lot during my career, and I already had the chance to work with Seb as part of his gravel crew in Monte Carlo this year. Japan will be a big challenge with a lot to learn but I will focus on doing my best as always and try to make the most of this chance. Finally I would like to thank M-Sport, Pierre-Louis Loubet and his sponsors for this season and the good results we could do together.” Landais added.
Loubet did his final round of the season in Spain and now Frenchman will need to find a new co-driver for the next season, however, this move is also opening up some questions if Ogier´s new partnership could mean a full return to the Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team line-up for 2023?
