WRC Rally GB: Ogier wins from Hirvonen, late heartbreak for Meeke
Sebastien Ogier clinched his eighth World Rally Championship victory of 2014 on Rally GB, as Mikko Hirvonen said goodbye in second place but Kris Meeke lost his podium late on
Ogier was able to take it very easy for the majority of this year's WRC finale once his Volkswagen team-mates Andreas Mikkelsen and Jari-Matti Latvala crashed.
Mikkelsen went off on only the second stage of the event when running second to Ogier, while Latvala pushed his team-mate in an intense battle that took them a minute clear of the field until his accident on Saturday morning.
The focus then shifted to a superb contest for what was now second place between M-Sport Ford's Hirvonen - in his WRC swansong - and Citroen team-mates Kris Meeke and Mads Ostberg.
A penalty for checking in late while attending to an intercom issue and then a delaminated tyre dropped Ostberg away from the fight on Saturday, but Hirvonen and Meeke battled on, running just 1.6 seconds apart with three stages to go.
Meeke was in trouble, though, with a trip through a ditch early on Sunday having caused tyre damage. With only one spare and no service on Sunday, he knew he needed to ensure his best remaining tyres were on the car for the road section to the finish now that competitors are banned from driving with punctures on public roads.
He finally ran out of grip on the penultimate stage and had to limp on thereafter, dropping from third to sixth in the process.
Combined with Ostberg's first podium since Sardinia in June, that still ensured that Citroen narrowly beat M-Sport and Hyundai to second in the manufacturers' championship.
Hirvonen was ecstatic to round his career off with a hard-fought runner-up finish, which also clinched the 'best non-VW' position in the standings that he had set his heart on.
Thierry Neuville stayed just ahead of local hero Elfyn Evans to the end, and they moved up to fourth and fifth following Meeke's problems.
The Powerstage bonus points went to Latvala, who continued in 10th after his crash but struggled first with miscellaneous damage to his VW and then motivation and confidence once the car was fixed.
Once back on the pace, he recovered to eighth, just behind Ott Tanak.
Mikkelsen rejoined under Rally2 for Saturday and took a string of stage wins, then coped superbly when a broken intercom left him relying on memory, sign language and pacenotes being held up in front of him for half of leg two. But his rally ended with another trip off the road early on Sunday.
Henning Solberg lost a points finish to a fuel leak on the final morning, elevating Martin Prokop to ninth. The Czech Ford privateer subsequently mounted a late surge to resist factory Hyundai driver Hayden Paddon, who had lost time with power steering problems on Friday.
The third Hyundai of Juho Hanninen crashed on the first leg then had a quiet run under Rally2 for the remaining days.
Robert Kubica finished just outside the points in 11th after only the second crash-free rally of his 2014 season.
Jari Ketomaa dominated WRC2, but it wasn't enough to stop Nasser Al-Attiyah clinching the class title.
LEADING FINISHERS AFTER SS23:
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Sebastien Ogier, J.Ingrassia | Volkswagen Motorsport | Volkswagen | 3h03m08.2s |
2 | Mikko Hirvonen, J.Lehtinen | M-Sport | Ford | 37.6s |
3 | Mads Ostberg, J.Andersson | Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT | Citroen | 1m03.6s |
4 | Thierry Neuville, N.Gilsoul | Hyundai Motorsport | Hyundai | 1m14.9s |
5 | Elfyn Evans, D.Barritt | M-Sport | Ford | 1m24.3s |
6 | Kris Meeke, P.Nagle | Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT | Citroen | 2m03.0s |
7 | Ott Tanak, R.Molder | M-Sport | Ford | 2m29.7s |
8 | Jari-Matti Latvala, M.Anttila | Volkswagen Motorsport | Volkswagen | 2m47.5s |
9 | Martin Prokop, J.Tomanek | Jipocar Czech National Team | Ford | 3m43.3s |
10 | Hayden Paddon, J.Kennard | Hyundai Motorsport N | Hyundai | 3m48.5s |
LEADING POWERSTAGE RESULTS:
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Jari-Matti Latvala, M.Anttila | Volkswagen Motorsport | Volkswagen | 7m04.7s |
2 | Thierry Neuville, N.Gilsoul | Hyundai Motorsport | Hyundai | 2.3s |
3 | Mads Ostberg, J.Andersson | Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT | Citroen | 3.1s |
4 | Elfyn Evans, D.Barritt | M-Sport | Ford | 4.1s |
5 | Martin Prokop, J.Tomanek | Jipocar Czech National Team | Ford | 7.6s |
6 | Ott Tanak, R.Molder | M-Sport | Ford | 8.5s |
FINAL CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:
Pos | Driver | Points |
---|---|---|
1 | Sebastien Ogier | 267 |
2 | Jari-Matti Latvala | 218 |
3 | Andreas Mikkelsen | 150 |
4 | Mikko Hirvonen | 126 |
5 | Mads Ostberg | 108 |
6 | Thierry Neuville | 105 |
7 | Kris Meeke | 92 |
8 | Elfyn Evans | 81 |
9 | Martin Prokop | 44 |
10 | Dani Sordo | 40 |
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