Citroen are finally dropping Dani Sordo. Well, not quite – which part of me finds disappointing. He’s being relegated to the Citroen Junior Team for three of the remaining seven rounds of the WRC season.

As an alleged tarmac specialist, Sordo will keep his top team place for the asphalt events. His gravel replacement will, inevitably, be Sebastien Ogier, who took his first rally win recently on the gravel Rally Portugal.

Said Citroen boss Olivier Quesnel:

“I do not want people to think that this reflects in any way badly on Dani Sordo and Marc Marti.”

But it does reflect badly on Sordo, doesn’t it? Because basically you’re saying that Ogier is a better bet than Sordo on gravel. Which is objectively correct.

Mind you, what reflects worse on Sordo is the fact that in four and a half years of driving the same car as Sebastien Loeb, he’s not won a single rally.

More Quesnel:

“They have had a slightly troubled start to the season and they need to get their confidence back. Driving in the Citroen Junior Team will give them the chance to compete without pressure and rediscover their form.”

Maybe, or it might just prepare them for disappointment if Citroen doesn’t run three cars in the factory team next year.

There’s a comparison here to the factory Ford team. Jari-Matti Latvala struggled last season, so to take the pressure off, this year he’s officially the number two driver, charged only with supporting Mikko Hirvonen.

It’s not quite gone to plan for Ford though. It’s done Latvala no harm, but Hirvonen has been pushing too hard, and making mistakes as a result.

So the question is whether Ogier can live up to Citroen’s expectations in his outings for the factory team. If he can, a seat alongside Loeb in 2011 could be his reward.