Sebastien Ogier has given Volkswagen Motorsport their first ever World Rally Championship victory this afternoon in Sweden.
Ogier crossed the line in first place with a comfortable 41.8-second gap from Citroen driver Sebastien Loeb who couldn’t keep up with his fellow countryman. This signals Ogier’s first win since the 2011 Rally of France, and puts him in the championship lead.
Mads Ostberg came third for Qatar M-Sport Ford, 6 seconds ahead of Volkswagen driver Jari-Matti Latvala who struggled for pace throughout the event. Thierry Neuville and Juho Hanninen finished fifth and sixth respectively, giving Qatar M-Sport Ford plenty of points.
Evgeny Novikov dropped from fifth to ninth when he rolled his Ford with three stages to go, while Saudi driver Yazeed Al Rajhi took a surprise WRC2 victory and came 10th overall after a long battle with Anders Grondal.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Sebastien Ogier VW 3h11m41.9s 2. Sebastien Loeb Citroen + 41.8s 3. Mads Ostberg Qatar M-Sport Ford + 1m24.5s 4. Jari-Matti Latvala VW + 1m30.6s 5. Thierry Neuville Qatar M-Sport Ford + 5m06.4s 6. Juho Hanninen Qatar M-Sport Ford + 5m43.1s 7. Martin Prokop Czech Ford + 11m25.4s 8. Henning Solberg M-Sport Ford + 11m42.7s 9. Evgeny Novikov Qatar M-Sport Ford + 13m04.7s 10. Yazeed Al Rahji Yazeed Ford + 16m27.0s