WRC Rally of France: Latvala closes on Ogier with victory

Latvala grabbed the lead of the rally from Volkswagen team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen on the third stage of the rally, opening up a gap of 8.2 seconds by the end of the first day with four stage wins.

The Finn stretched his advantage on the second leg, widening the gap to Mikkelsen to a comfortable 28s over the course of Saturday courtesy of another five stage wins.

Mikkelsen conceded any hopes of catching Latvala on the final day, losing a further 16.8s during the final four stages held on Sunday morning, but nonetheless equalling his best ever WRC finish with second place.

The event was a nightmare for the third Volkswagen of Ogier, who was ruled out of winning contention in his home event on the second stage with a gear-sensor problem that caused his engine to cut out, costing the Frenchman four minutes.

Ogier then lost another four minutes at the start of the following stage owing to a penalty for taking the start four minutes earlier than his allotted time, leaving him over eight minutes in arrears of his team-mates at the head of the field.

The reigning champion turned his focus to securing the maximum three bonus points on offer in Sunday morning's powerstage finale, which he duly achieved to limit the damage dealt to his championship lead.

With Latvala taking one point for the third best time on the powerstage, 27 points now separate he and Ogier heading to Spain, where the latter can seal his second title if he outscores his rival.

Completing the podium behind Latvala and Mikkelsen was Citroen's Kris Meeke, who lost touch with the Volkswagens early on in the rally and drove to safeguard third place thereafter.

The Ulsterman completed the rally 1m05s away from the leader, but was never truly threatened from behind after the first day.

Fourth place had been set to go to M-Sport Ford driver Robert Kubica, but the ex-Formula 1 driver threw away a chance of taking his best ever WRC finish when he spun into a ditch during the powerstage.

Kubica's late demise promoted Dani Sordo to fourth and Mikko Hirvonen to fifth, the pair split by 12s at the end of the rally.

Elfyn Evans overhauled Mads Ostberg on the very last stage to complete the top six, the Welshman also scoring two bonus points on the powerstage.

Both Evans and Ostberg lost time to penalties for being late to service, caused by an electrical failure on Friday and a leak with the rear differential on Saturday respectively.

Thierry Neuville finished the rally eighth, hobbled by a turbo problem with his Hyundai i20 WRC on the opening day, while Bryan Bouffier and Martin Prokop completed the top 10.

Class honours in WRC2 went to home driver Quentin Gilbert after a rally-long duel with Bernardo Sousa, who fell 8.1 short of victory in the final reckoning. Sebastien Chardonnet was a distant third, having lost ground replacing a punctured tyre on Friday.

Stephane Lefebvre meanwhile secured the Junior class title with fourth place in his home event, as Britain's Alistair Fisher secured his first win from local men Eric Camilli and Quentin Giordano.

LEADING FINISHERS AFTER SS18:

LEADING POWERSTAGE TIMES:

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS: