Ogier and Ingrassia win the title in style

26.10.14

Jari-Matti Latvala fought to the end, but it simply wasn't enough to take the FIA World Rally Championship title fight to the final round

Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia have claimed back-to-back FIA World Rally Championship titles* after winning the 50th RallyRACC Rally de España today. The French duo has won seven rallies this season and led the Championship for all but one event to raise the prized trophy for the second consecutive year. Jari-Matti Latvala and Jarmo Lehtinen have put up an incredible fight all weekend, the Finns needing to finish ahead of their team-mates to keep their title chances alive. Despite a string of great stage times, however, time lost on Friday resulted in the Finns standing alongside in second position. Third was taken by Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen, their first podium of the season in the Fiesta RS WRC.

With the Driver and Co-driver titles now sealed, and the Manufacturers’ Championship already wrapped up by Volkswagen Motorsport at Rally Australia*, the final round of the series will see an intense fight for outright victory in the Welsh forests.

Today’s route was the shortest and covered two identical loops of two stages over 72.06 competitive kilometres, the final Riudecanyes test also running as the Power Stage. Ogier began the day with a handy 27.3 second lead, but Latvala was never going to let his team-mate take an easy win or Championship title. The Finn’s relentless pace saw him claim all four stage wins, but it simply wasn’t enough and he ultimately finished just 11.3 seconds adrift. A really strong performance from Mikko Hirvonen rewarded the Finn with third overall and like most of the crews, he ran without problems to the finish.

Mads Østberg remained determined to stay ahead of fifth-placed local hero Dani Sordo and the Norwegian achieved his goal with 8.9 seconds in hand. Sordo’s team-mate Thierry Neuville finished sixth by just 1.9 seconds, the Belgian moving back in to the position after Andreas Mikkelsen started the final stage late, a rare co-driver error. Martin Prokop took a comfortable eighth and Hayden Paddon gained more useful Tarmac experience, finishing ninth in the third Hyundai i20 WRC.

Nasser Al-Attiyah rounded off the top 10, but more importantly claimed the FIA WRC 2 Championship win which puts him at the top of the Championship table going into Wales Rally GB. It is also the Qatari’s first victory on Tarmac. In the FIA WRC 3 Championship, Mohamed Al Mutawaa took maximum points and his first category victory of the season.

RallyRACC Rally de España – Final Unofficial Results (subject to scrutineering)

1. Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia	Volkswagen Polo R WRC	3hr 46min 44.6sec
2. Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila	Volkswagen Polo R WRC	3hr 46min 55.9sec
3. Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	3hr 48min 26.8sec
4. Mads Østberg/Jonas Andersson	Citroën DS3 WRC	3hr 48min 57.9sec
5. Dani Sordo/Marc Marti	Hyundai i20 WRC	3hr 49min 06.8sec
6. Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul	Hyundai i20 WRC	3hr 50min 45.6sec
7. Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Floene	Volkswagen Polo R WRC	3hr 50min 47.5sec
8. Martin Prokop/Jan Tomanek	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	3hr 54min 51.4sec
9. Hayden Paddon/John Kennard	Hyundai i20 WRC	3hr 55min 57.0sec
10. Nasser Al-Attiyah/Giovanni Bernacchini	Ford Fiesta RRC	3hr 59min 24.4sec

FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers (after 12 of 13 rounds)

Sébastien Ogier (FRA)	242 points
Jari-Matti Latvala (FIN)	211 points
Andreas Mikkelsen (NOR)	150 points
Mikko Hirvonen (FIN)	108 points
Mads Østberg (NOR)	92 points
Thierry Neuville (BEL)	91 points
Kris Meeke (GBR)	84 points
Elfyn Evans (GBR)	71 points
Martin Prokop (CZE)	42 points
Dani Sordo (ESP)	40 points
Henning Solberg (NOR)	26 points
Bryan Bouffier (FRA)	20 points
Juho Hänninen (FIN)	20 points
Hayden Paddon (NZL)	18 points
Robert Kubica (POL)	14 points
Ott Tanak (EST)	11 points
Benito Guerra (MEX)	8 points
Chris Atkinson (AUS)	7 points
Pontus Tidemand (SWE)	6 points
Dennis Kuipers (NLD)	4 points
Jaroslav Melicharek (SVK)	4 points
Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT)	4 points
Lorenzo Bertelli (ITA)	2 points
Matteo Gamba (ITA)	2 points
Craig Breen (IRL)	2 points
Yuriy Protasov (UKR)	2 points
Jari Ketomaa (FIN)	1 point
Karl Kruuda (EST)	1 point
Khalid Al Qassimi (ARE)	1 point

FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers (after 12 of 13 rounds)

Volkswagen Motorsport	416 points
Citroën Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team	187 points
M-Sport World Rally Team	180 points
Hyundai Motorsport	175 points
Volkswagen Motorsport II	133 points
Jipocar Czech National Team	45 points
Hyundai Motorsport N	26 points
RK M-Sport World Rally Team	25 points

* Subject to the official publication of the results by the FIA

Ogier and Ingrassia win the title in style

Related news