Ogier wins Wales Rally GB, Volkswagen wins

Sébastien Ogier (Volkswagen) scored its first gravel victory of the season by winning Wales Rally GB for the fourth time in a row. Its sixth success of the year allows Volkswagen to win its fourth Manufacturers' title in a row against Hyundai.

On a muddy course where his position on the road was for once an advantage, the four-time world champion resisted Ott Tänak (Ford) who remained on the attack until the finish only to lose with only ten seconds behind.

If the Estonian's tires were probably more efficient than the Michelins in these conditions, the driver of the Ford Fiesta RS showed great combativeness by winning the six stages of the last stage, including the Power Stage where he won the is imposed in front of Andreas Mikkelsen (Volkswagen) and Thierry Neuville (Hyundai).

The Belgian completes the podium by finishing almost 20 seconds ahead of his teammate Hayden Paddon and takes second place in the Championship with 14 points ahead of Andreas Mikkelsen. Kris Meeke (Citroën) secured fifth place by finishing more than a minute ahead of Dani Sordo (Hyundai) for the last rally at the global level of the DS 3 WRC.

Jari-Matti Latvala (Volkswagen) finished seventh after regaining the advantage over Mads Ostberg (Ford) who failed ten seconds behind the Finn. The French Stéphane Lefebvre (Citroën) and Éric Camilli (Ford) complete the top ten.

If the first category of the WRC was not very lively, WRC 2 offered superb battles between the Nordic drivers. Esapekka Lappi (Skoda Fabia R5) won with almost half a minute in advance, but it was Pontus Tidemand (Fabia R5) who took second place, ahead of Teemu Suninen (Fabia R5) by only a second. .

After securing the JWRC title at the Tour de Corse earlier this month, Simone Tempestini clinched the WRC 3 title at the end of Wales Rally GB by securing second place behind category winner Martin Koci who finished vice- champion of the category. The Slovakian won with more than two minutes ahead of the Italian. Yohan Rossel completed the podium 21 seconds behind second place.

Wales Rally GB results

Discover the analysis of Wales Rally GB carried out by our special correspondents in issue 2087 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and from Wednesday on newsstands.