Ogier wins his duel against Latvala at Wales Rally GB

Sébastien Ogier (M-Sport) had not tasted victory since the Tour de Corse last April. By winning Wales Rally GB for the fifth time in his career after his series of successes with Volkswagen from 5 to 2013, the five-time champion WRC not only added a 44th success to his record. He has fully placed himself back in the title race by coming back to 7 points behind the championship leader Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) who was only able to save a 5th place after making a mistake in the second stage.

The Frenchman also regained the advantage on Ott Tänak (Toyota) who was well on his way to winning Wales Rally GB until the mechanics decided otherwise on Saturday. The Estonian is now 23 points behind the Belgian with two events remaining at the end of the season.

However, Sébastien Ogier did not have an easy time since he was put under pressure by Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota) until the finish was delayed by 2 hours following an accident external to the competitors. The Finn, who even briefly took control of the event in the last stage, notably winning the Power Stage ahead of Tänak, Ogier, Neuville and Lappi, finally lost to his former teammate.

Despite Ott Tänak's misfortune, Toyota carried out a great operation by placing a second Yaris WRC on the podium with Esapekka Lappi. Toyota now has a 20-point lead over Hyundai, while M-Sport follows at 44 points.

Craig Breen (Citroën) was still in a position to fight for the podium until the Irishman spun. He saved a 4th place by ahead of the Hyundai drivers by a handful of seconds, Thierry Neuville ahead of Andreas Mikkelsen and Hayden Paddon. Mads Ostberg (Citroën) finally fell to 8th place while he was in 4th position at the start of the last stage.

At just 18 years old, Kalle Rovanperä (Skoda) scored his first victory in WRC 2 by winning ahead of Pontus Tidemand (Skoda) and Gus Greensmith (Ford). Jari Huttunen (Hyundai) and Stéphane Lefebvre (Citroën) complete the Top 5.

The WRC will resume its rights on the weekend of October 25 with the Rally of Catalonia.

Drivers' championship points –
1. Neuville – 189
2. Ogier – 182
3. Tanak – 167
4. Lappi – 104
5. Latvala – 98 #WRC

— WRC (@OfficialWRC) 7th October, 2018

Manufacturers' championship points –
1. Toyota - 317
2. Hyundai - 297
3. M-Sport Ford-273
4. Citroën -187 #WRC

— WRC (@OfficialWRC) 7th October, 2018

Discover the analysis of Wales Rally GB carried out by our special correspondent in issue 2186 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and from this Wednesday on newsstands.