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WRC Rallye Deutschland: Ogier gives VW second successive home win

Sebastien Ogier won Rallye Deutschland on Sunday to secure Volkswagen another home victory and strengthen his lead in the Drivers' Championship, while Dani Sordo just came out top in a thrilling three-way fight to claim the runners-up spot.

Ogier started the final leg with a 33.4 second advantage and was able to cruise through the last few stages, eventually taking the win - his first since February's Rally Sweden - by 20.3 seconds.

The result sees him increase his lead in the Drivers' Championship to 59 points, with only four events remaining after the cancellation of next month's Rally China.

"It feels great [to win again]," Ogier told the official WRC site. "I was missing it a lot - it's been such a long time. I took the chance here, it's a really good result for the championship.

"It was a very exciting battle with Andreas [Mikkelsen], Thierry [Neuville] and Dani - we had to push to beat them.

"This win is for [departing team boss] Jost [Capito].

"I told him I'd do this for him!"

Ogier took the lead in the first stage on Friday, only to slip behind Andreas Mikkelsen and Thierry Neuville when he made a mistake at the start of SS2 and missed a hairpin.

In the afternoon, the Frenchman was quickest in SS4 and SS5, to haul himself back to second, concluding the first leg 4.3sec shy of Mikkelsen.

On Saturday, Mikkelsen won SS6 to stretch his lead to 5.8secs, before an error in SS7 - when he went straight on at a junction and had to reverse - left him only 0.2secs up on his team-mate.

The lead then switched back and forth in Arena Panzerplatte 1 and 2, before Ogier stormed through the daunting 40.80km Panzerplatte Lang 1 ending the morning loop with a 13.2sec cushion, although only seven drivers completed SS10 at speed after Stephane Lefebvre crashed out.

The stage was stopped as a result and Lefebvre and co-driver Gabin Moreau were both taken to hospital having suffered fractures and internal injuries.

Ogier then extended his lead on Saturday afternoon, gaining 6.7secs in SS11, before again acing Panzerplatte Lang to take his seventh stage win of the event, setting him up for his Sunday cruise to the end.

Behind, the battle for second raged to the very finish, with Mikkelsen slipping down to third in the opening stage on Sunday when Sordo was quickest.

Mikkelsen then lost another place in SS16, with the second Hyundai of Thierry Neuville moving in front after the Belgian set the top time, 0.4secs up on Sordo and 2secs up on Mikkelsen.

With SS17 cancelled on safety grounds, Sauertal 2 - the Power Stage - took on added importance, and while Neuville stormed through to claim the stage win, he ended up just short, with Sordo clinching second by 0.1 seconds.

"That was close. I'm happy," Sordo said.

Mikkelsen in contrast, lost the brakes in the final stage and finished it with his right-rear wheel alight, 6.8secs off the podium.

Hayden Paddon was a distant fifth in the Hyundai Motorsport N entry, after a difficult Friday, which included a massive moment in SS3.

M-Sport's Mads Ostberg took sixth, losing out to Paddon in SS12 on Saturday and then unable to fight back. Ostberg similarly had a poor Friday.

In WRC2, Esapekka Lappi took a dominant win - and seventh overall - in his Skoda Fabia R5, over a minute up on his closest class rival.

Of the rest, Pontus Tidemand - not registered for WRC2 points on this event - was eighth ahead of WRC2 podium finishers Jan Kopecky and Armin Kremer in ninth and tenth.

Kremer led early on, but slipped to second on Saturday morning when he went straight on at a junction in Bosenberg 1 and lost almost 30 seconds. Kremer was later reeled in by Kopecky, who recovered from a puncture in SS2 to take the runners-up spot.

Volkswagen's Jari-Matti Latvala, M-Sport's Eric Camilli and DMACK's Ott Tanak all finished under Rally 2.

Latvala was forced out in the opening stage on Friday with a gearbox problem. He eventually finished down in 48th position. Camilli also went out in SS1, crashing near the end of the test. He was classified in 50th.

As for Tanak, he was running in P5 until he had to stop before SS12 with an alternator problem. Tanak finished 23rd.

The World Rally Championship has a bit of an extended break now after China was cancelled, with Rallye de France-Tour de Corse next up, running from September 29 to October 2. 

Zdroj: crash.net