Germany WRC: Ogier seals victory, Sordo clings to second
Sebastien Ogier sealed his third victory of the WRC season after completing the final stage of Rally Germany, while Dani Sordo held on to second place, a tenth ahead of Hyundai teammate Thierry Neuville.
Winners Sébastien Ogier, Julien Ingrassia, Volkswagen Polo WRC, Volkswagen Motorsport
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Having not won since February's Rally Sweden, Ogier came through the final stage of the event - a second running of the 14.84km Sauertal test - equal-third fastest to seal the win by 20.3s from Sordo.
"For sure, I was missing [winning] a lot," said Ogier. "It's a long time since I battled like this for the win, with Andreas [Mikkelsen], Thierry and I, it was very exciting."
The fastest man through the final stage was Neuville, 2.5s up on second-place man Jari-Matti Latvala, who fell out of victory contention on Friday with a gearbox problem.
But this wasn't enough for Neuville to overturn the 2.7s deficit to teammate Sordo, as the Spaniard - who set an identical stage time to Ogier, but was credited with third - clung on to second by just 0.1s to take his best result of the season yet.
Mikkelsen held on to fourth, 6.8s adrift of the final podium spot, three minutes clear of the third Hyundai of Hayden Paddon. Mads Ostberg brought home the leading M-Sport machine sixth.
Seventh overall was the best of the WRC2 runners, Esapekka Lappi, who set an identical stage time to the Czech driver to end up over a minute clear in the overall standings.
Ogier's win means his championship lead over Volkswagen teammate Mikkelsen now stands at 58 points, while Neuville and Paddon both move clear of Latvala.
Overall results after SS18 - Top 10:
Pos | Driver | Car | Time | Gap |
1. | Sebastien Ogier | Volkswagen | 3:00:26.7 | |
2. | Dani Sordo | Hyundai | 3:00:47.0 | +20.3 |
3. | Thierry Neuville | Hyundai | 3:00:47.1 | +20.4 |
4. | Andreas Mikkelsen | Volkswagen | 3:00:53.9 | +27.2 |
5. | Hayden Paddon | Hyundai | 3:04:01.5 | +3:34.8 |
6. | Mads Ostberg | Ford | 3:04:57.9 | +4:31.2 |
7. | Esapekka Lappi | Skoda | 3:09:03.5 | +8:36.8 |
8. | Pontus Tidemand | Skoda | 3:09:19.2 | +8:52.5 |
9. | Jan Kopecky | Skoda | 3:10:10.9 | +9:44.2 |
10. | Armin Kremer | Skoda | 3:10:37.3 | +10:10.6 |
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