Ogier big winner of the Tour de Corse

Sébastien Ogier (M-Sport) did not make the slightest mistake. The five-time world champion signed his third victory of the season in four events by winning the Tour de Corse for the second time after his success in 2016.

The Frenchman won with a lead of 36 seconds over Ott Tänak (Toyota) who surpassed Thierry Neuville (Hyundai). The podium remained uncertain, the Belgian having suffered mechanical problems in the Power Stage. The FFSA finally confirmed the result.

.@thierryneuville makes it through the end of the powerstage in 3rd place #tourdecorse #wrc #wrclive pic.twitter.com/mRzJHqj8ge

— WRC (@OfficialWRC) April 8th

Dani Sordo (Hyundai) took fourth place by resisting the comeback of Elfyn Evans (M-Sport) who lost by less than four seconds.

Esapekka Lappi (Toyota) had to settle for sixth position after losing around two minutes in the Vero – Sarrola – Carcopino special (SS11), the longest route of the Tour de Corse, due to a puncture from which he took responsibility.

The Finn nevertheless showed himself to be the fastest in the 16,25km of Coti Penitentiary – Chiavari which served as a Power Stage, preceding Sébastien Loeb (Citroën), Sébastien Ogier, Kris Meeke (Citroën) and Ott Tänak. The Championship leader set the same time as the Northern Irishman, but it was the Frenchman who won the three bonus points.

Andreas Mikkelsen (Hyundai) briefly moved up to sixth place by taking advantage of Esapekka Lappi's problems, but the Norwegian ultimately failed around ten seconds behind the Finn.

Jan Kopecky (Skoda) won in WRC 2 ahead of Yoann Bonato who drove the new Citroën C3 R5 and Fabio Andolfi (Skoda). The Czech retained eighth position for less than six seconds ahead of Kris Meeke.

Sébastien Loeb finally finished in 14th place after restarting in Rally 2 this Saturday following his crash on SS2.

Jean-Baptiste Franceschi won his duel against Terry Folb in the JWRC by winning with a little over half a minute in advance. The Swede Emil Bergkvist completes the podium in the category.

In the Championships, Sébastien Ogier now has a 17-point lead over Thierry Neuville. Ott Tänak follows at 39 units. Hyundai leads the Manufacturers with four points ahead of M-Sport. Toyota follows at 18 points. Citroën is 30 units behind.

Discover the analysis of the Tour de Corse carried out by our special correspondent in issue 2160 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and from Wednesday on newsstands.