In the FIA World Rally Championship, Ogier remains in control of the leaderboard and the Frenchman has a 47 point lead over Mikkelsen after five rounds. In the Manufacturers’ Championship, Volkswagen Motorsport is ahead of Hyundai Motorsport by 49 points, the Korean manufacturer scoring with just one car following the retirement of Hayden Paddon.
The final day of competition took the crews over two identical loops of two stages and included the iconic Fafe stage where thousands of fans descend to watch this rollercoaster stage. Starting the day with 45.3 seconds in hand to Ogier, Meeke was able to control his pace, take no risks but up his speed if necessary. In the end, the Northern Irishman was able to get to the finish unchallenged to rack up his second victory in the FIA World Rally Championship. Ogier started the day in second position but a puncture in the opening stage enabled stage winner Andreas Mikkelsen to move ahead. The Polo R WRC team-mates were neck and neck on the remaining three stages, trading fastest times, but with Ogier needing to adopt some caution with a lack of spare wheels, the Norwegian was able to keep ahead and claim a fine second overall with Ogier just 4.8 seconds adrift. With Jari-Matti Latvala in the Power Stage mix, Volkswagen drivers were also able to claim a clean sweep of the additional points for this single stage.
Having been in the fight for the podium positions earlier in the event, Dani Sordo slipped away from the leading trio but nevertheless finished a comfortable fourth ahead of Eric Camilli in the lead Fiesta RS WRC. The Frenchman had a problem with the handbrake earlier and a spin in the Power Stage, but his fifth position represents his best finish in a World Rally Championship event. After his earlier power steering problems, Jari-Matti Latvala was out of contention for the podium but the Finn managed to climb back to sixth, only 5.3 seconds behind Camilli after the Frenchman’s spin in the final stage. Mads Østberg took seventh ahead of Martin Prokop, the Czech driver struggling with intercom issues today.
The top 10 was rounded off by Pontus Tidemand in ninth, the Swede also claiming the FIA WRC 2 Championship category victory ahead of Nicolas Fuchs. In the FIA Junior WRC Championship Simone Tempestini took honours in his DS 3 R3 after a massive battle with Martin Koci.
The sixth round of the FIA World Rally Championship takes the contenders to the island of Sardinia for Rally Italia (9-12 June).
The sixth round of the FIA World Rally Championship takes the contenders to the island of Sardinia for Rally Italia (9-12 June).
