Perhaps the least understood and most car-sickness-inducing role in rallying is co-driving. To get a better handle on what it takes to become the best team in rallying, Volkswagen Motorsport recently spoke to the guy who’s been getting reigning-world-champion Sebastien Ogier to the top of the podium since 2006.
Unfortunately, the interview is written in German, and the translation is… mostly intelligible at best, so here’s the gist.
Ingrassia got into motorsports pretty late in life. Up until the age of 16, he had no particular interest in rallying, but then he got his license and that changed.
Luckily, when he became interested, he had an outlet. He followed a friend who rallied around France, but didn’t drive for him until, in 2002, when the friend’s second rally car needed a co-driver and he asked Ingrassia to give it a shot.
“I replied that I had no experience and that it was a pretty difficult rally,” says Ingrassia. “But he then said that the driver was also not very experienced and just wanted to get to the finish. I will never forget the adrenaline rush. It was a real adventure.”
To add to that, he and his driver got to the finish without an accident and he was hooked.
After that he co-drove for a friend of his in France’s national rally championship and together they had moderate success.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to live off, so he worked in sales at Coca Cola. It was while working there, on a quiet day, that he first saw Sebastien Ogier racing in the Federation Francaise de Sport Automobile talent competition.
“This striking driver had a damn brave driving style,” says Ingrassia. “I immediately saw that he drove very aggressively, but not stupidly. He was intelligent.” So Ingrassia sent Peugeot Motorsport (with whom Ogier was driving) an application.
Peugeot responded, gave him Ogier’s phone number, and the two met up at the Ogier family home in the winter of 2006.
“It was a bit like a date,” says Ingrassia. It was snowy out and they had dinner, and when they were supposed to head out to a local bar, Ingrassia spotted the Ogiers’ Renault 11 Turbo with studded tires. They never made it to the bar. Instead they played in the snow all night.
The rest, as they say, is history. The team are now the dominant pair in rallying and despite spending his life in a race car, Ingrassia says he has no desire to race professionally, though he does enjoy a spirited drive.
You can catch Ingrassia and Ogier next, at the Rally Italia Sardegna, starting next week.
The post Julien Ingrassia Talks About His Journey to the Top of the WRC appeared first on VWVortex.
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