Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia climbed onto the podium of a world championship rally for only the second time in their careers, in Mexico.
The Citroën Junior Team crew shared the podium with rally winner Sébastien Loeb and fellow world champion Petter Solberg, as C4s swept the top three places.
Ogier exchanged second place with Solberg during a hard-fought final day, before finishing just 1.1sec behind the Norwegian and 25.3sec from Loeb.
“It was the first time that we ever had the chance to fight for a top place all the way to the end,” said Ogier at the rally finish in León. “We managed to drive at a good pace throughout the event. It's a sure sign that we are making progress. This podium rewards all the hard work that the team has put in. It's been a great start to the season; we really couldn't hope for better.”
“We haven't been on the podium since Greece last year, again thanks to Sébastien,” added Citroën Junior Team manager Benoit Nogier. “This podium is actually like a win for us, given the relative lack of experience of our team and drivers. It's a huge satisfaction to see all our hard work rewarded today.
“Sébastien and Julien were able to fight for the podium thanks to their extremely strong performance. They again showed themselves to be quick, professional and talented…it's been a great job from start to finish.”
