WRC Rally Catalunya: Ogier crashes from the lead on final stage
Andreas Mikkelsen clinched his maiden World Rally Championship victory at Rally Catalunya, after his Volkswagen team-mate Sebastien Ogier crashed on the final stage of the weekend
Ogier, who had to regain the lead twice on Friday, remained untouchable for the majority of the rally as early challengers Mads Ostberg and Robert Kubica fell by the wayside.
The Frenchman headed into the final powerstage with a seemingly unassailable lead of 50.9s over Mikkelsen.
Mikkelsen came through the powerstage 1.7s faster than Jarti-Matti Latvala, and Ogier was expected to make it to the stage end, calmly and unscathed, but disaster struck.
Coming out of a left-hander Ogier made contact with the barrier on the outside, losing a wheel and the win in the process.
Ogier's mishap not only promoted Mikkelsen to his first win but also moved Dani Sordo up to third at his home event.
Mikkelsen had been battling with Latvala for the majority of the rally for second.
Latvala dropped behind both Mikkelsen and Sordo following a puncture early in the rally, but he leapfrogged the pair of them after setting a blistering time on SS16 where he was 5s up on everyone.
Latvala's puncture woes struck again on SS21 though and he lost nine seconds to Mikkelsen, which once again dropped him behind his team-mate.
The Finn however clawed back 6.7s on the penultimate stage of the day, meaning the gap going into the powerstage was down to just 1.4s.
Citroen team-mates Ostberg and Kris Meeke fought hard over sixth place for most of the rally.
Ostberg led the way but Meeke did get the jump on him after gradually closing in on the Norwegian for a number of stages.
But all of Meeke's hard work was wasted when he spun on SS19, eventually finishing the rally only 1.9s down on Ostberg in fourth.
Hayden Paddon held onto sixth, after Thierry Neuville hit trouble on the final two stages.
The Belgian had to contend with a broken driveshaft on the penultimate stage before having an off on the powerstage, which meant he limped home down in eighth overall behind Martin Prokop.
In WRC2, third-in-class was enough for Nasser Al-Attiyah to secure this year's title.
RALLY RESULT
-
WRC Catalunya: Ogier cruises as Latvala and Mikkelsen battle
Sebastien Ogier: Rally Catalunya final-stage crash was 'stupid'
Laser Tools Racing continues in BTCC with Hill
The Laser Tools Racing name that was carried to British Touring Car Championship titles in 2020 and 2021 will continue in the series after all with Jake Hill.
McLaren to share F1 reserve driver Schumacher with Mercedes
Mercedes Formula 1 reserve driver Mick Schumacher will be also made available as a stand-in to McLaren, the Woking team has announced.
NASCAR Next Gen car gets safety upgrades for 2023 season
NASCAR unveiled some changes to the Next Gen car for the 2023 season, with most enhancing its safety aspects.
O’Ward optimistic about Rossi and that McLaren IndyCar DNFs can be reduced
Arrow McLaren ace Pato O’Ward says he’s confident that Alexander Rossi will be a strong addition to the line-up and that the team has gotten on top of its mechanical woes.
Why Monte Carlo success could spark another past master’s WRC revival
Some 39 years on from his Monte Carlo Rally debut, World Rally Championship legend Francois Delecour continues to pick up silverware. Proving that age is purely a number, the 60-year-old's desire to compete against the WRC’s latest young talents could be the start of a new chapter in the Frenchman’s storied career
How fired-up Ogier became the WRC's ultimate Monte master
He may only be contesting a part-time campaign in the World Rally Championship these days, but Sebastien Ogier underlined that he's lost none of his speed in the 2023 season opener. Storming to yet another victory on the Monte Carlo Rally, the eight-time world champion rewrote the history books again as Toyota served notice of its intentions with a crushing 1-2
How Lancia pulled off its famous Monte Carlo giantkilling
Audi should have been invincible in the snowy conditions that typically greeted the World Rally Championship paddock in Monte Carlo. But unexpectedly warm weather for the 1983 season opener, combined with some left-field thinking from the Lancia crew turned the tables. Forty years on, team boss Cesare Fiorio reflects on a smash and grab
Why M-Sport has pinned all its efforts on a WRC reunion
M-Sport had a disastrous 2022 with its Rally1 Ford Pumas following Sebastien Loeb’s first-time-out win on the Monte. But now things are looking up with 2019 world champion Ott Tanak leading its attack, and the Cumbrian operation has optimism that it can challenge for a first title since Sebastien Ogier's departure at the end of 2018
The contenders seeking to take Rovanpera's WRC crown
As Kalle Rovanpera begins his World Rally Championship title defence in Monte Carlo, the Finn knows he has a target on his back. But who is best placed to knock the Toyota ace off his perch?
Why Rovanpera is anticipating a fight to defend his WRC title
Question: what could be harder than becoming the youngest-ever World Rally champion? Answer: becoming the youngest-ever two-time World Rally champion. That's quite the challenge facing Toyota's Kalle Rovanpera in 2022, particularly against rejuvenated opposition in the second year of the WRC's hybrid regulations
From F1 to WRC: Why Hyundai's new boss could be an inspired signing
OPINION: New Hyundai WRC team boss Cyril Abiteboul admits he’s got a lot to learn as he leads the marque's efforts to dethrone Toyota. But could his Formula 1 experience and evident strengths mean he turns out to be an inspired choice?
The ultimate rally car project the WRC is glad COVID killed
Toyota was unstoppable in the 2021 World Rally Championship, with an excellent 75% strike rate from 12 rallies. But in a scary proposition for its rivals, the Japanese marque had built a car for the final year of the previous regulations set which it believes was much faster and could feasibly have crushed the opposition completely. Here the story of its mothballed world-beater
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.