Ogier tightens grip on WRC title with huge lead

Sport360 staff 05:21 30/06/2014
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  • Marching ahead: Sebastien Ogier has now five of the seven rallies this season.

    Sebastien Ogier has taken a massive 50-point lead into the second half of the World Rally Championship season after a resounding win at Rally Poland yesterday.

    Ogier was fastest on 10 of the 22 stages, including the rally-ending Power Stage.

    His winning margin of 1min 07sec also gave the Frenchman the 21st victory of his career.

    “I think it’s the perfect weekend for me,” the Volkswagen Motorsport Polo R driver said. “I have got a victory and a good step for the championship. I saw on the first full day I had a disadvantage by opening the road, but if I could maintain the same rhythm after that I knew I would be okay.”

    Second place was filled by Ogier’s team-mate, Andreas Mikkelsen.

    The 25-year-old Norwegian was extremely fast during the opening exchanges but his challenge faltered on the second day when he spun and lost the brakes on his Polo.

    Hyundai’s promising first season in the WRC returned another podium finish for the i20 with Thierry Neuville behind the wheel.

    The Belgian’s only drama on his way to third place was when his car’s handbrake locked on stage nine and he lost 32.2s.

    The fight for the remaining places on the leaderboard were significantly affected by the drama that unfolded on the 14th stage, the 35.17km run through ‘Goldap 1’.

    M-Sport’s Elfyn Evans and Citroen Total Abu Dhabi’s Mads Ostberg both retired after clipping a big rock that was lurking in the Polish undergrowth.

    Volkswagen’s Jari-Matti Latvala hit the same rock and also sustained serious suspension damage.

    However, he managed to continue, albeit at a reduced speed. Others to suffer on the same stage were Citroen’s Kris Meeke, privateer Henning Solberg and local crowd favourite Robert Kubica.

    M-Sport’s Mikko Hirvonen finished fourth, just 0.7s ahead of the recovering Latvala, while sixth place went to Hyundai’s Juho Hanninen who had a 1m 38s lead over Meeke’s Citroen at the finish line, while New Zealand’s Hayden Paddon capped another strong performance in his i20 to claim eighth.

    Privateer Solberg and Martin Prokop of Jipocar Czech National Team rounded out the top 10.

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