Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila claimed their first victory of the 2015 FIA World Rally Championship season today, winning Vodafone Rally de Portugal and heading a Volkswagen one-two-three. The Finnish duo beat reigning World Champions Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia by 8.2 seconds while Andreas Mikkelsen and Ola Floene claimed third and the team’s third clean sweep of the podium positions.

In the FIA World Rally Championship, Ogier continues to top the table and has 42 points in hand to Mikkelsen. Østberg slips to third and Kris Meeke now lies fourth in the Drivers’ Championship. In the Manufacturers’ Championship, Volkswagen Motorsport’s maximum points put them 43 points ahead of the Citroën Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team.

Today’s route was by far the shortest with just 54.65 competitive kilometres, but it included two runs over the legendary Fafe stage where tens of thousands of fans flocked to see spectacular action. Starting a four-way fight with a 9.5 second advantage, Latvala lost a couple of seconds to Ogier in the opening stage, the Frenchman seizing the opportunity to challenge for a fourth victory this year. However, Latvala powered back in the following stage, setting the fastest time and crediting the confidence boost to co-driver Anttila. In the closing Power Stage, Ogier may have set the fastest time and claimed the three additional Championship points, but Latvala’s second-fastest time was enough to secure the duo their first win since the 2014 Rallye de France. Andreas Mikkelsen, who started fourth this morning, moved ahead of Meeke in the first stage and the Ulsterman’s hopes of regaining the position were thwarted when he broke the rear anti-roll bar on the second stage. Meeke nevertheless claimed a fine fourth, having matched the pace of the Volkswagens throughout the rally.

Ott Tanak has enjoyed a great run in Portugal in the all-new Ford Fiesta RS WRC and the Estonian finished fifth with a comfortable margin over Hyundai’s Dani Sordo. The Spaniard, in sixth, fought hard to stay ahead of Mads Østberg and the rivals finished the event split by just 4.3 seconds. Hayden Paddon lost one position and slipped to eighth, Robert Kubica rounded off a good run with ninth and Martin Prokop claimed 10th.

In the FIA WRC 2 Championship, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Matthieu Baumel won the category, their second victory of the season, and Quentin Gilbert and Renaud Jamoul took the win in the FIA Junior and FIA WRC 3 Championships, their second consecutive maximum points haul.

The sixth round of the FIA World Rally Championship takes the contenders to the island of Sardinia for another all-gravel event, Rally Italia Sardegna (11-14 June).

Vodafone Rally de Portugal – Final Unofficial Results (subject to scrutineering)

FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers (after 5 of 13 rounds)

FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers (after 5 of 13 rounds)