AUTOSPORT Awards 2013: Sebastien Ogier wins Rally Driver Award

Ogier led the new Volkswagen factory programme to a dominant championship victory in this year's WRC.

He received his award from Christian Horner, team principal for the Red Bull Formula 1 team, and said the title was the culmination of hard work from both him and VW.

"I never thought it was my opportunity because [nine-time champion Sebastien] Loeb was not here, and that it was just like that," said Ogier, who was joined on stage by co-driver Julien Ingrassia (pictured).

"I had to work to achieve my goal and my dream and it happened this year. I'm very proud to be world champion and have joined the list.

"I think it's very impressive to have reached this level of competition with the first car and of course we worked hard last year for that.

"I must congratulate the team for that, only one failure all year and only one mistake from myself this season. I couldn't expect that for the first year."

Ogier had been tipped as the man most likely to supplant Sebastien Loeb as world rallying's benchmark from his earliest days on the internatonal scene.

A dominant title in the 2008 Junior championship earned him a Citroen World Rally Car and a place in the firm's satellite team.

Although Ogier got off to an incredible start by leading an icy Rally GB that winter on his top-level debut, his first full-season in 2009 took time to get going amid rather too many mistakes for Citroen's liking.

But when Ogier hit his stride there was no stopping him. By mid-2010 he was a WRC winner and usurping Dani Sordo alongside Loeb in Citroen's works line-up.

His relationship with Loeb would prove famously fractious as it became clear they could not co-exist in the same team.

Though courted by Ford, Ogier chose to put his faith in VW's WRC plans, which meant a holding year in an S2000 Skoda in 2012 while testing the VW Polo R WRC with which he would prove so dominant this year.

Nine wins from 13 rallies made the 29-year-old a clear champion, and hinted that he could threaten Loeb's records over the coming years.