Julien Ingrassia

Julien Ingrassia (born 26 November 1979) is a French retired rally co-driver. Working with Sébastien Ogier, he became World Rally Champion in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 with Volkswagen Motorsport, 2017 and 2018 with M-Sport World Rally Team, and in 2020 and 2021 with Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT.

While starting his professional life as a sales representative for Coca-Cola, Ingrassia discovered rallying and made his debut as a codriver in 2002 in France's Critérium des Cévennes. For several years, he gained experience in regional rallies, and then competed in the Peugeot 206 Cup in 2004.

At the end of 2005, Ingrassia attended the Rallye Jeunes selection organised by the French Federation and discovered Sébastien Ogier, winner that year. They teamed up for the 2006 season in the Rallye Jeunes FFSA team and Ingrassia codrived Ogier for his first rallies and his first wins in the Peugeot 206 Cup. Together, they learnt their work in regional and national rallies and then quickly entered the international scene.

In 2008, Ingrassia reached the world level through the Junior World Rally Championship with the FFSA French team. Winner of three of the season's six rallies, he won the JWRC title with Sébastien Ogier. Seen as the new generation of French rallying talents, the crew only contested one season in JWRC before moving up to the WRC.

Joining the Citroën Junior Team in 2009, Ingrassia scored his first podium finish at the Acropolis Rally together with Ogier. A first win came the following season, in Portugal. Promoted in the official Citroën Total World Rally Team for the last gravel rallies of the 2010 season, the crew took a second win in Japan, a rally that they were discovering.

Despite his late arrival in motorsport, it only took Ingrassia two seasons in the WRC class together with Ogier to star at the highest level of rallying. In 2011, the Ogier/Ingrassia crew was full-time part of the factory Citroën team, winning as many rallies as their team-mates Loeb/Elena (5), despite team's orders in favour of Loeb at the end of the season.

After their departure from Citroën, Ingrassia and Ogier linked up with Volkswagen Motorsport in 2012, choosing the German manufacturer instead of Ford: this meant skipping the 2012 WRC championship in order to fully develop the new Polo R WRC, but they indeed experienced a very busy year in 2012, competing in almost the entire season at the wheel of a Skoda Fabia S2000 while developing the new car for 2013. The Polo R WRC was ready at the end of the year and was on the start line at the 2013 Rally Monte Carlo. First special stage and first win! Ogier and Ingrassia ended the weekend on the podium, and then went on to win Rally Sweden, a real accomplishment given the Scandinavians' hegemony on their home ground. Now leaders of the season, the French crew consolidated their domination rally after rally: they scored 9 victories, 111 fastest times and no less than 290 points, a record in WRC! They secured their first WRC title in the first stage of Rallye France, while Volkswagen took also the manufacturers title on the following round in Spain.

In 2014, the reigning World Champions got off to a perfect start by winning Rally Monte Carlo. After already winning this prestigious rally when it was part of the IRC championship in 2009, this was the first time they achieved this success in the WRC class. Also victorious in Mexico, Portugal, Italy, Poland, Australia, Spain and Wales, Ingrassia and Ogier clinched their second title on the penultimate round of the season. Ingrassia became the first French co-driver to have won two WRC titles. With a total of 24 victories in five seasons, he was also at that time the third most successful co-driver in the WRC (tied with Luís Moya, who retired in 2002), behind Timo Rautiainen (30) and Daniel Elena (78).