The Japan Times - Ogier announces his cautious Le Mans debut

"It's going to be exciting, and at the same time a bit scary", Ogier told AFP.

The French driver won his eighth World Rally Championship last season and said he wanted to try a more varied diet this season, exploring endurance events and racing on circuits.

Richard Mille said the 38-year-old Ogier would drive in a single-seater LMP2 (Le Mans Prototype) car, the second division below the leading Hypercar level.

"It's going to be a great experience, it's good to start like this," Ogier said.

"The probability that I will be successful in endurance racing is still very low. That's the challenge I like."

"I'm pretty relaxed about it, I don't have anything to prove after what I did in rallying," he said.

He will alternate at the wheel with two other French drivers, Lilou Wadoux and Charles Milesi.

Ogier plans to drive in a handful of rallies this season for Toyota, the team with which he won his last two titles. He finished second in the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally on January 23.

Toyota also enters endurance races and Ogier tested their Hypercar in November and again last week.

"But to be in a Toyota right away, that wouldn't be smart. It's up to me to go through the stages, to progress before seeing what is feasible in the future," he said.

"They think it was the best idea for me to progress and eventually look at the future together."

"Every lap I do with a huge grin," he said. "But between driving alone on a test track and navigating in traffic, in the middle of a big pack, there is a world of difference".

Sponsored by a Swiss watch maker, Richard Mille started in 2020 boasting the "first ever 100% female crew in LMP2."

This season they are putting out a mixed team with Ogier partnering two drivers at Le Mans who will just have turned 21.

Like Ogier, Wadoux will be making her Le Mans debut but Milesi won in the LMP2 category last year with the WRT team.

K.Inoue--JT