Rally great Ogier to remain hospitalized though 'no serious injuries' from crash in Poland
Police officers are investigating the site of a crash between the white Toyota of eight-time world rally champion Sebastien Ogier and co-driver Vincent Landais, left, and a local resident's Ford, right, that collided head-on on a local road near the village of Wlosty, near Goldap in northeastern Poland, Tuesday, June 25, 2024, while the Ogier and Landais were on a reconnaissance run ahead of this week's Rally Poland. Ogier and the Ford's driver were airlifted to hospital while Landais and the Ford's female passenger were taken by ambulances. (Police Office in Goldap via AP Photo)
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Eight-time world rally champion Sébastien Ogier will remain hospitalized overnight after he was involved in a crash in Poland on Tuesday while preparing for this week’s race, though his team said he was not seriously injured.
FILE - World Rally Champions Sébastien Ogier poses as he arrive at the FIA Prize Giving ceremony in Paris, France, on Dec. 16, 2021. The eight-time world rally champion Sébastien Ogier and his co-driver Vincent Landais have been hospitalised after beeing involved in a crash in Poland while preparing for this week’s World Rally Championship event there, Polish police and the Toyota team said Tuesday, June 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
The 40-year-old Ogier and co-driver Vincent Landais were withdrawn from the Poland Rally, the Toyota Gazoo racing team said in a statement. Landais was released from the hospital.
“All involved have underdone scans which showed no serious injuries,” the team said. “While Landais has been discharged, Ogier will remain under medical observation overnight and will not be able to participate in the event.”
It later said drivers Kalle Rovanpera and Jonne Halttunen will step in for Ogier and Landais for the race.
The four-day rally starts Thursday in northeastern Poland, in a rural area not far from the border with Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave.
The team said GPS tracking shows the speed of Ogier's car at the time of the head-on crash was “within the limits set.”
Earlier, a police spokesman in Olsztyn, Tomasz Markowski, said Toyota and Ford cars were involved near the northeast village of Wlosty, and four people were taken to the hospital. The drivers were airlifted and the passengers were taken by ambulances, Markowski added.
FILE - Sebastien Ogier of France steers his Toyota Yaris WRC car during the WRC Acropolis Rally at the stage of Aghii Theodori, west of Athens, on Sept. 10, 2021. The eight-time world rally champion Sébastien Ogier and his co-driver Vincent Landais have been hospitalised after beeing involved in a crash in Poland while preparing for this week’s World Rally Championship event there, Polish police and the Toyota team said Tuesday, June 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Local police spokeswoman Marta Domańska said the crash occurred on raised terrain on a narrow, one-lane dirt road which was not closed to traffic. In the Ford were a 69-year-old man and a 67-year-old woman. All complained of back pain after the crash, she said.
Ogier was taken to a hospital in Olsztyn, the other driver to Slupsk, while Landais and the other passenger were taken to Gizycko hospital. Domańska said no official rally route tests were taking place there at the time of the crash.
Photos posted by Olsztyn police showed a white Toyota and a dark Ford with their fronts damaged.
Ogier is one of the greatest rally drivers in history. He won six straight world titles from 2013-18. His most recent was in 2021.
Ogier has won 60 rallies, second all-time to countryman Sebastien Loeb's 80.
Driving part-time in the world rally championship this year, he won the Croatia Rally in April and the Portugal Rally in May. Poland is hosting its first WRC event in seven years, and Ogier has won here twice.
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Monika Scislowska, The Associated Press