Sebastien Ogier celebrated winning the 2013 World Rally Championship title with a home victory on the Rally of France. The Volkswagen driver achieved his seventh win of the season despite languishing in fifth place on Friday, half a minute behind a stunning lead fight.
Indeed in the early stages both Ogier and his retiring former arch-rival Sebastien Loeb were overshadowed in front of the local fans as Dani Sordo, Jari-Matti Latvala and Thierry Neuville battled in the top three.
Neuville and his flying M-Sport Ford looked like he might be out of Ogier’s reach as he pulled away in the lead towards half-distance. But Neuville ran wide and damaged a tyre on Saturday afternoon, resulting in a messy stage that cost him over a minute. That left Sordo, Latvala, Loeb and Ogier in an incredibly close lead fight starting the final day.
It did not last long, though. Loeb crashed out on Sunday morning’s first stage, where a blistering time from Ogier thrust him into the lead. Ogier did not look back after that, resisting a final flurry of pace from Sordo’s Citroen to win by 12 seconds. Latvala fell away in the final morning’s muddy conditions and settled for third, with Neuville a distant fourth.
Evgeny Novikov claimed fifth place, followed by an off-form Mikko Hirvonen.
Leading finishers after SS20: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Sebastien Ogier VW 2h53m07.6s 2. Dani Sordo Citroen +12.2s 3. Jari-Matti Latvala VW +19.5s 4. Thierry Neuville M-Sport Ford +1m14.1s 5. Evgeny Novikov M-Sport Ford +3m10.9s 6. Mikko Hirvonen Citroen +3m37.7s 7. Andreas Mikkelsen VW +4m04.2s 8. Mads Ostberg M-Sport Ford +4m35.2s 9. Robert Kubica PH Citroen +9m31.4s 10. Romain Dumas Dumas/M-Sport Ford +11m55.8s