In a thrilling final stage showdown, reigning FIA World Rally Champions Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia clinched victory in Rally Sweden, the second round of the series. The duo were locked in a three-way battle for outright honours during the day, but overhauled overnight leaders Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul to claim the win by 6.4 seconds. Volkswagen team-mates Andreas Mikkelsen and Ola Floene looked set to take their first-ever WRC victory, leading by three seconds going into the final stage. However, the Norwegians spun, lost over 40 seconds and dropped from first to third.

In the FIA World Rally Championship, Ogier has extended his lead and takes a 23 point advantage into the first gravel round of the season in three weeks’ time. Neuville and Mikkelsen are equal on points behind the Frenchman with Jari-Matti Latvala in fourth. In the Manufacturers’ Championship, two victories from two events keeps Volkswagen Motorsport at the top of the leaderboard, albeit only 13 points ahead of Hyundai Motorsport.

Today’s route covered just three stages and 46.74 competitive kilometres but the scene was set for an epic battle to the finish line. With the leading trio split by less than 10 seconds last night, there was everything to play for as the crews powered their cars over the frozen snow-covered forestry stages. Neuville, who led by a mere 1.5 seconds last night, hit problems in the first stage when the driver/co-driver intercom failed and he hit a snow bank and lost his lead to Mikkelsen. He was then overhauled by Ogier in the following stage and the trio went into the final live television stage split by just 4.6 seconds, Mikkelsen with the advantage. Flat-out, Ogier claimed the Power Stage victory when Mikkelsen spun, sealing him the Rally Sweden win in this final stage.

Behind the podium battle, Ott Tanak claimed a fine fourth. The Estonian struggled early in the event but gained in confidence stage by stage and moved from fifth to fourth this morning when Mads Østberg spun following a problem with the handbrake. He finished 10th. New Zealander Hayden Paddon also put in an impressive performance to take fifth – his best WRC result – and Elfyn Evans won the battle with Kris Meeke to take sixth overall. Their close fight came to an end when Meeke hit a snowbank in the final stage. Martin Prokop was happy to claim eighth – despite a half roll this morning – ahead of Yuriy Protasov.

In the FIA WRC 2 Championship, Jari Ketomaa and Kaj Lindstrom took honours in their Ford Fiesta R5, and Ole Christian Veiby and Anders Jaeger won the FIA WRC 3 Championship category in a Citroën DS 3.

The third round of the FIA World Rally Championship takes the contenders to the Americas and the oxygen-sapping mountains of Rally Guanajuato Mexico (5-8 March).

Rally Sweden – Final Unofficial Results (subject to scrutineering)

1.   Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia	Volkswagen Polo R WRC	2hr 55min 30.5sec
2.   Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul	Hyundai i20 WRC	2hr 55min 36.9sec
3.   Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Floene	Volkswagen Polo R WRC	2hr 56min 10.3sec
4.   Ott Tanak/Raigo Molder	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	2hr 57min 56.5sec
5.   Hayden Paddon/John Kennard	Hyundai i20 WRC	2hr 59min 02.0sec
6.   Elfyn Evans/Daniel Barritt	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	2hr 59min 23.5sec
7.   Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle	DS 3 WRC	2hr 59min 36.3sec
8.   Martin Prokop/Jan Tomanek	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	2hr 59min 56.5sec
9.   Yuriy Protasov/Pavlo Cherepin	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	3hr 01min 02.7sec
10. Mads Østberg/Jonas Andersson	DS 3 WRC	3hr 02min 21.4sec

 

FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers (after 2 of 13 rounds)

Sébastien Ogier (FRA)	53 points
Thierry Neuville (BEL)	30 points
Andreas Mikkelsen (NOR)	30 points
Jari-Matti Latvala (FIN)	19 points
Mads Østberg (NOR)	14 points
Elfyn Evans (GBR)	14 points
Ott Tanak	12 points
Hayden Paddon	10 points
Kris Meeke (GBR)	10 points
Dani Sordo (ESP)	8 points
Martin Prokop (CZE)	6 points
Sébastien Loeb (FRA)	6 points
Yuriy Protasov (UKR)	2 points

FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers (after 2 of 13 rounds)

Volkswagen Motorsport	68 points
Hyundai Motorsport	55 points
M-Sport World Rally Team	32 points
Citroën Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team	20 points
Volkswagen Motorsport II	15 points
Jipocar Czech National Team	10 points
FWRT srl	1 point
Hyundai Motorsport N	1 point