Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia claimed a maiden victory on the Tour de Corse today, the Polo R WRC crew taking the win by 46.4 seconds over Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul who sandwiched the Volkswagens of Ogier and Andreas Mikkelsen/Anders Jaeger. Victory by the French crew puts them one step closer to a fourth consecutive world title, the performance of their nearest rivals denying them their outside chance of securing the Championship in France.

In the battle for the world titles, Ogier extended his advantage and the Frenchman now has 68 points in hand to team-mate Mikkelsen with Neuville 15 points further adrift. In the Manufacturers’ Championship, Volkswagen Motorsport heads Hyundai Motorsport by 66 points.

Today’s route, from Bastia in the north to Porto-Vecchio in the south of the island, was the shortest of the event and took in just two stages. The opener was however the longest stage of the event – Antisanti-Poggio di Nazza at 53.78 kilometres – before crews headed to the closing Power Stage, a short sprint at 10.42 kilometres.

Restarting with a 46.5 second advantage, Ogier took no risks in the opening stage and the Frenchman was only sixth fastest on roads drenched by heavy overnight rain. In the final stage he claimed a Power Stage point for third en route to his fourth victory of the season. Both Neuville and Mikkelsen similarly adopted a risk-free strategy, Mikkelsen’s deficit too great to overcome in the closing stages. Both continue to fight for second in the Championship with three rounds remaining.

Jari-Matti Latvala claimed fourth after rally-long issues with the brakes and the Finn will doubtless be happy to put Rallye de France-Tour de Corse behind him after a difficult weekend. Craig Breen had a disastrous opening stage today, the Irish driver using old pace notes from last year that simply didn’t work. He nevertheless finished a fine fifth in his first outing on the Tour de Corse in a World Rally Car. Team-mates Hayden Paddon and Dani Sordo finished sixth and seventh respectively. Paddon was disappointed with his tarmac driving and after Sordo picked up a puncture earlier in the event, there was little for the Spaniard to fight for. Eric Camilli and Mads Østberg were pretty evenly matched and leave the Mediterranean island with points for eighth and ninth while Ott Tanak, in another Fiesta RS WRC, inched into the top 10 today after a difficult event on his DMACK tyres. Kris Meeke, who was one of the event pacesetters, eventually finished 16th, having set fastest time in both of the day’s stages and claiming maximum points in the Power Stage.

Elfyn Evans took the win in the FIA WRC 2 Championship category, the Welshman having led from start to finish. He took a 33.3 second victory over Skoda’s Jan Kopecky. The Junior WRC Championship was a close-fought affair and Laurent Pellier reclaimed the lead today, beating Yohan Rossel in identical DS3 R3T machinery. However, in the Junior Championship, Simone Tempestini and co-driver Giovanni Bernacchini claimed the title*, their fourth position in Corsica enough to secure them the trophy.

The 11th round of the FIA World Rally Championship takes the contenders to Spain for the only mixed surface round on the calendar, Rally de España (13-16 October).

Rallye de France-Tour de Corse – Final Unofficial Classification

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