Ogier had been trying to build big lead

Sebastien Ogier says he was trying to build a cushion over the field in anticipation of having to run first on the road on Saturday when he crashed out of Rally Australia halfway through leg one. The Citroen driver was nine seconds clear of Ford's Mikko Hirvonen in second place and looked set to carve into Sebastien Loeb's points advantage as the championship leader had already rolled two stages earlier. Conditions were extremely difficult on Friday due to the combination of heavy rain on the stages and hard Michelin tyres better suited to dry stages, but Ogier said the crash was more due to him pushing to extend his lead than the slippery surface

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/world-rally-championship-news/wrc/ogier-had-been-trying-to-build-big-lead/

Peter Hirt David Hobbs Gary Hocking Ingo Hoffmann Bill Holland