Volkswagen Motorsport clinched its second consecutive World Rally Championship manufacturers’ title after a podium sweep in Rally Australia lead by Frenchman Sebastien Ogier, followed by Jari-Matti Latvala and Andreas Mikkelsen.
Latvala spent a portion of Saturday in the lead, only to allow Ogier back ahead when he went with soft tyres all round in anticipation of rain on a stage that proved dry and sunny. Ogier mixed his hard and soft tyres for that loop and moved into a lead he wouldn’t relinquish, even though Latvala kept pushing and finished only 6.8 seconds behind.
Meeke did his utmost to get his Citroen among the VWs and led much of the first leg. His hopes of a podium were finally dashed with a penalty for corner-cutting on Saturday, leaving Mikkelsen with a quiet run to third. Meeke finished fourth ahead of Hirvonen’s M-Sport Ford.
Rally Germany winner Hyundai had to settle for sixth, seventh and 10th with Hayden Paddon, Thierry Neuville and Chris Atkinson this time, with Neuville having been delayed by a impact with a post on SS5.
