Andreas Mikkelsen and Ola Floene claimed their first-ever victory in the FIA World Rally Championship today amid a dramatic closing stage that saw reigning World Champion Sébastien Ogier crash within sight of his eighth win of the season. The Norwegian Volkswagen crew were battling to maintain second overall but claimed the win and maximum points in this Power Stage to top the leaderboard in Rally de España. Team-mates Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila took second and Hyundai’s Dani Sordo and Marc Marti rounded off the podium to the delight of their Spanish fans.

In the FIA World Rally Championship, Ogier’s first non-finish - as well as the first event of the season where he has scored no points - makes little difference, the Frenchman having provisionally wrapped up the title at Rally Australia. However, Latvala and Mikkelsen have now secured their positions inside the top three in the Championship with one round remaining and everything to fight for. In the Manufacturers’ Championship, the battle behind Volkswagen Motorsport continues and the Citroën Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team has a four-point advantage over Hyundai Motorsport.

Today’s route was the shortest but took in two identical loops of three stages covering 76.40 competitive kilometres. Behind Ogier, who had nearly a minute in hand at the head of the field, the battle for second position was intense between Latvala, Mikkelsen and Sordo, the trio split by just 7.4 seconds going into the final day. Mikkelsen was quickest out of the box, winning the first two stages to get within four-tenths of a second of Latvala. The Finn fought back and while the stage wins bounced between the two of them, Mikkelsen’s break came in stage 21 when Latvala punctured and dropped to third. The penultimate stage saw yet more drama with Mikkelsen spinning and the pair went into the final stage split by 1.4 seconds. For the first time this rally, Mikkelsen drove the perfect test, celebrating second position at the end of the stage before hearing that Ogier had crashed into a roadside barrier and taken a wheel off, handing him his maiden victory at the highest level of the sport. Sordo had pushed hard over the closing stages but was unable to match the pace and slipped back during the day, albeit finishing a fine third overall 21.2 seconds adrift of Mikkelsen.

Mads Østberg and Kris Meeke finished fourth and fifth respectively for Citroën, scoring the valuable points the team needed to maintain its second position in the championship. Meeke, who had started the day ahead, dropped behind his team-mate in the second stage with a spin and finished just 1.9 seconds behind. Hayden Paddon was happy with sixth, his confidence on asphalt ever increasing, and Martin Prokop moved up the order into seventh after Thierry Neuville lost time with broken transmission and a resulting off. He finished eighth. Pontus Tidemand, driving a Skoda Fabia R5 car, finished a fine ninth overall and took the win in the FIA WRC 2 Championship category ahead of team-mate Jan Kopecky.

In the FIA WRC 2 Championship, Tidemand may have taken the event win, but Nasser Al-Attiyah and co-driver Mathieu Baumel have provisionally won the title. After his nearest championship rival, Esapekka Lappi, retired yesterday, the Qatari driver had to finish third behind Tidemand to claim the victory. It could not have been tighter; going into the final stage he was just one-tenth of a second ahead of fourth-placed Armin Kremer but, when Ogier crashed and the stage got cancelled, Al-Attiyah claimed the title by this slimmest of margin, having not run the stage. In an impressive season, he and Baumel have added this title to those in the FIA Middle East Rally Championship and the FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies.

In the FIA Junior WRC Championship, provisional champions Quentin Gilbert and Renaud Jamoul took their fifth win of the season, and also lead the FIA WRC 3 Championship, which will now be decided on the final round of the championship at Wales Rally GB (12-15 November).

Rally de España – Final Unofficial Results 

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

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