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Julien Ingrassia reveals remarkable call with Ogier after Rally Finland horror - RallyJournal.com

RallyJournal.com · Toni Heinonen · 2026-08-19T10:37:25+00:00 · nguồn gốc

A couple of weeks have now passed since the accident. Rally Finland was a one-off outing for Ingrassia, with Ogier calling on his long-time trusted co-driver after Vincent Landais withdrew from the fast gravel event in Central Finland for personal reasons. Ogier and Ingrassia’s reunion almost produced a winning result. With four stages remaining, the French stars held a substantial 21-second lead over Sami Pajari. But on the Västilä stage, their Toyota went off at high speed and crashed into the forest. After what felt like a long period of uncertainty, it emerged that both crew members were OK. Ogier suffered a concussion and briefly lost consciousness after getting out of the car, but after a night in hospital, both were able to head home. If Ogier and Ingrassia had had their way, they would have been back in action on the final day of the rally. “Immediately on the next morning, we had a phone call. At six in the morning, I felt in his voice and he felt in my voice a rage that we didn’t finish the job,”Ingrassia said on DirtFish’s SPIN, The Rally Pod. “More or less in the spirit, we wanted to call the engineer to put the car back on the road and we go for it. This is the fighting spirit, which is great. It means we didn’t keep this very primal fear deep inside of us.” Ingrassia admitted, however, that the situation had been terrifying. “When you crash into the trees at these speeds, in Finland in the middle of the trees, I don’t want to lie. I have been thinking: ‘Hmm, I might die or I might be really badly hurt this time.’” “Still now, when we are talking, I still keep the smile, saying we were doing a great, amazing job. I can keep the smile for this reason and I can keep the smile because we are here and we are safe.” Rally Finland ultimately ended with victory for Toyota’s Finnish star Sami Pajari.