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WRC Monte Carlo Rally: Sebastien Ogier wins in all-VW top three

Sebastien Ogier cruised to a second consecutive Monte Carlo Rally victory as Volkswagen locked out the podium at the opening round of the 2015 World Rally Championship

Once freed from a phenomenal battle with returning nine-time world champion Sebastien Loeb on Friday when the Citroen man hit a wall, Ogier was in cruise control ahead of team-mates Jari-Matti Latvala and Andreas Mikkelsen.

The double champion led by 1m45s at the start of Saturday and though Latvala cut that by over a minute on the penultimate day, Ogier pushed his margin back out to 58s by the end of the rally.

Latvala did at least trump his Polo WRC team-mate on the powerstage with the third-best time, gaining a point as Ogier was restricted to fourth.

Mikkelsen held on to third overall despite a late surge from Mads Ostberg. Though Citroen team-mates Loeb and Kris Meeke hit higher peaks with multiple stage wins between them, the Norwegian was flawless en route to fourth overall.

Ostberg might have challenged Mikkelsen harder were it not for an engine problem on Saturday afternoon and a repeat of the issue on the powerstage.

Behind the leading DS 3 WRC, a terrific battle between the two Hyundai drivers was settled on the very last stage in favour of Thierry Neuville.

Dani Sordo held a slender lead at the start of the final day and extended it slightly on SS13, before Neuville cut it back to just 0.2s heading into the last run and did just enough to overhaul his team-mate on the final six miles of the event.

Elfyn Evans recovered from the suspension issues that ruined his battle for fourth with the two i20 WRCs on Saturday to consolidate seventh on Sunday, with the M-Sport driver's solid final trio of stages fine reward for his team's job in rebuilding his Ford Fiesta WRC overnight.

Loeb's recovery from his Friday afternoon error was completed on SS14 when he passed Martin Prokop to bag eighth, while 10th-placed Meeke was fastest on both of Sunday's Col St Jean - St Laurent runs, taking the maximum three-point bonus on the powerstage with Loeb just 0.2s slower.

Robert Kubica's recovery from various delays on Thursday and Friday was less successful.

He won Saturday morning's stage and was a regular frontrunner for the remainder of the rally but then crashed after the finish on SS14 when his RK Ford Fiesta WRC lost its brakes over the finish and ploughed into a wall, destroying the right-hand side of his car.

LEADING FINISHERS AFTER SS15:

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LEADING POWERSTAGE RESULTS:

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Kris Meeke, P.Nagle Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT Citroen 6m30.5s
2 Sebastien Loeb, D.Elena Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT Citroen 0.2s
3 Jari-Matti Latvala, M.Anttila Volkswagen Motorsport Volkswagen 1.9s
4 Sebastien Ogier, J.Ingrassia Volkswagen Motorsport Volkswagen 2.7s
5 Andreas Mikkelsen, O.Floene Volkswagen Motorsport II Volkswagen 4.4s

LEADING CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:

Pos Driver Points
1 Sebastien Ogier 25
2 Jari-Matti Latvala 19
3 Andreas Mikkelsen 15
4 Mads Ostberg 12
5 Thierry Neuville 10
6 Dani Sordo 8
7 Elfyn Evans 6
8 Sebastien Loeb 6
9 Kris Meeke 4
10 Martin Prokop 2

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