Despite heading to the fifth Rally d'Italia Sardegna at the head of the Junior World Rally Championship standings, and unbeaten in his two outings to date,
Citroen protégé Sebastien Ogier insists that there are no great expectations resting heavily on his shoulders.
Having battled his way to victory in the JWRC section of the inaugural Rally Jordan, the young Frenchman has shown that he can win from front or back, but the Mediterranean island will present a new challenge after the loose surfaces of Mexico and the Middle East that provided his successes so far.
"First of all, we're not under any pressure to win," he pointed out, "Finishing on the rostrum would be a good result for us but, if we see that we can continue our series [of victories], then we'll do everything in our power to go for it.
"I don't know this event any better than the other two but, from what I've been told, the roads are fairly slow, full of potholes and very hard on the car. If that's the case, we'll have to pay close attention and do everything possible to avoid punctures. Nevertheless, with our 20 out of 20, we can tackle this event in a relaxed frame of mind."
That may be the best policy for Ogier, who is well aware that the JWRC field will be the strongest it has been all season.
"Everybody's nominated this rally," he confirms, "But everything's gone well since the start of the year. The entourage put in place by the FFSA and Citroën Sport has pointed us in the right direction. Our team, PH Sport, has done a great job, especially in Jordan after the problems we ran into. The Citroën C2 Super 1600 has been quite simply remarkable. And finally we're starting to feel really at home in the world championship. We've got to grips with the rally format now, and we're hoping that it's all going to work out in the same way in Sardinia.”
![Sebastien Ogier (FRA) / Julien Ingrassia (FRA), Citroen C2 S1600 [Junior WRC]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/417661.jpg)
