Ogier has confirmed he gained’t contest a full season in WRC subsequent 12 months, because the sequence begins its new hybrid period, and is eyeing alternatives in circuit racing with WEC and the Le Mans 24 Hours high of the record.
The Frenchman flagged earlier this 12 months that no matter occurs in 2022 he want to stay inside the Toyota crew in some guise.
He may contest a half WRC season or run as few as two rallies for the Japanese model and dovetail a partial marketing campaign with outings in different types of motorsport.
Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe technical director Pascal Vasselon has confirmed to Autosport that Ogier has undergone classes within the outfit’s simulator and talks are ongoing, however there may be “no fixed plan” concerning any outings in Toyota’s WEC Hypercar.
“It is something that is in discussion. There is no fixed plan at the moment; it is just something we are looking at,” Vasselon advised Autosport.
“He is curious about driving our automotive and I perceive why he would wish to drive our Le Mans Hypercar. He has already performed some simulator classes.
“We have put our WEC drivers in rally cars on team-building events, but we’ve never had a rally driver in one of our prototypes, so it would be quite interesting, I think.”
While competing in WEC is exterior of Ogier’s consolation zone, the 37-year-old has racked up a number of circuit racing outings throughout his profession.
Ogier has contested Porsche Super Cup occasions in 2013 and 2014 and raced as a Red Bull Ring wildcard within the DTM again in 2018, ending twelfth and sixteenth within the two races.
He additionally examined a 2011 Red Bull Formula 1 automotive on the Red Bull Ring in 2017.
Should Ogier’s final want come to fruition he would not be the one rally driver to sort out the Le Mans 24 Hours.
Nine-time WRC champion Sebastien Loeb completed second general in 2006 for Pescarolo Sport, whereas 1995 WRC champion Colin McRae was third within the GTS class in 2004, driving a Prodrive constructed Ferrari 550 GTS Maranello.
Speaking previous to Rally Estonia this week, Ogier admitted his 2022 plans are nonetheless but to be confirmed however revealed that he’s hopeful of testing Toyota’s WEC Hypercar, and people outcomes may assist decide his schedule.
“At the moment I’m still waiting to see what is going to fall in place regarding my switch to maybe the WEC that is my wish you know that,” stated Ogier, when requested by Autosport if the latest partial WRC calendar launch had helped his future planning.
“Nothing is set but. I’ve some work [to do] and am going to have a [WEC] take a look at in some unspecified time in the future to see what I can do with this automotive and after that possibly I will resolve if I do some rally and what number of, however for the time being you all need to be affected person to listen to about my 2022 12 months.
“The priority for me next year is not motorsport for me, that will remain.”
Ogier’s anticipated resolution to run solely a component WRC marketing campaign leaves Toyota trying to find a driver to share its third automotive with former Toyota, Citroen and M-Sport Ford driver Esapekka Lappi and present M-Sport Ford pilot Teemu Suninen among the many main candidates.
