WRC wrap: Home win for Ogier

The battle for the 2011 World Rally Championship is set to go down to the final round in Great Britain next month after a dramatic conclusion to Rallye de France Alsace today left the leading trio of drivers covered by three points.

French ace Sebastien Ogier, in a factory Citroen DS3 WRC, made the most of team-mate and championship leader Sebastien Loeb’s Friday exit to claim his first victory on home soil. In doing so the 27-year-old slashed Loeb’s title advantage to three points, courtesy of the 25 points he secured for winning the rally and the solitary point he landed for going third quickest on the event-closing Power Stage through Loeb’s hometown of Haguenau.

Mikko Hirvonen, who finished fourth for the works Ford team, is equal on points with Ogier to make it a three-way battle for championship honours.

“It’s a very good feeling,” said Ogier. “It was difficult at the end because there was a lot of pressure after the problem for Seb [Loeb]. It’s very important for the championship but now I must do two good rallies.”

While Ogier shone on his way to his fifth win of 2011, Dani Sordo also starred by finishing second in his MINI John Cooper Works WRC alongside co-driver Carlos del Barrio to make it two podiums from four appearances for the emerging manufacturer.

The Spaniard spent much of Sunday morning trimming Ogier’s outright lead thanks to his decision to use soft compound tyres in the colder conditions. However, when ambient temperatures rose, Ogier’s hard compound rubber had the edge and Sordo settled for a hugely impressive second place.

“Two rallies on Tarmac and two podiums is amazing and feels like a victory,” said Sordo. “It’s an incredible result, very nice and in the end I am very happy.”

Petter Solberg survived a dramatic spin on Sunday’s second test to secure his second consecutive podium finish for his eponymous team. The Norwegian felt he had the pace to challenge for victory in his privateer Citroen but lost out thanks to a costly puncture on Saturday morning.

Hirvonen began the final day trailing Ford team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala by almost 1m25s following a lacklustre showing. Although Latvala was fastest on four stages today, he slipped behind Hirvonen in the final classification after receiving a two-minute time penalty for an early entry into the regroup ahead of the rally-closing Power Stage in order to boost Hirvonen’s total score. Latvala’s efforts were rewarded when he went quickest on the televised stage to bag three bonus points.

Dennis Kuipers claimed the best finish by a Dutch driver on a WRC event in sixth overall. The highlight for the FERM Power Tools World Rally Team Fiesta driver was undoubtedly the second fastest time he set through Sunday’s first stage.

Armindo Araujo started the final day in seventh overall but failed to complete stage 18 after breaking the front-left suspension on his Motorsport Italia MINI striking a wall early in the run. The Portuguese driver’s exit promoted Henning Solberg into seventh with M-Sport Stobart Ford team-mate Mads Ostberg surviving a puncture on the Power Stage to take eighth.

Monster World Rally Team’s Ken Block overcame a seven-second deficit at the start of day three to move ahead of Pierre Campana’s Equipe de France FFSA MINI. In doing so the American scored his first drivers’ championship points of the season. Tenth for Corsican Campana marked the first time he had scored a WRC point.

Behind Matthew Wilson in 11th, Khalid Al Qassimi was 13th on his first appearance on asphalt in his Team Abu Dhabi Fiesta. Russian Evgeny Novikov restarted under SupeRally regulations following his crash on Saturday but he failed to break into the top 20.