Sebastien Ogier completed an astounding comeback drive to win the Rally of Spain and help give Volkswagen the World Rally Championship manufacturers’ title in its first year back.
Having clinched the drivers’ title in France earlier this month, Ogier began the penultimate round of the season in commanding style as he dominated Friday night’s stages, but a puncture on Saturday cost him a minute, and he began Sunday’s deciding six stages 42s behind rally leader and team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala.
Ogier mounted an incredible charge on the final morning to take 28s out of the Finn as he moved up to third. By the penultimate stage, Ogier was in the lead – although he was helped by trouble for Latvala flames coming from under the bonnet of his Polo R WRC on SS14.
Citroen’s Dani Sordo had been a major factor in the victory battle on his home event and was just 1.6s behind Latvala starting the final day. But he lost time through the morning and then crashed out with just one stage to go.
That elevated Sordo’s team-mate Mikko Hirvonen to third. He benefited from Thierry Neuville picking up a puncture on his M-Sport Ford on Sunday morning, dropping the Belgian to an eventual fourth, ahead of team-mate Evgeny Novikov.
Overall results after SS15:
