Ogier in narrowest WRC win ever

Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia snatched victory in the very last stage at Rally Jordan this weekend –  by the narrowest margin ever recorded in WRC history, just two-tenths of a second!
With 115 kilometres of special stages, day two was a four-way scrap between Sébastien Ogier, Sébastien Loeb, Jari-Matti Latvala and Petter Solberg. Loeb was the first to lay down a marker, when he set the fastest time in Yakrut (SS13), but Jari-Matti Latvala’s all-out attack pushed the seven-time world champion back to third, where he finished (taking the overall lead in the Drivers’ World Championship, with Citroën in a dead-heat for first place in the Manufacturers’ World Championship, currently). At the midday service break, Sébastien Ogier was still leading the rally, with some 20 seconds in hand over Latvala: “I had to go ‘pedal to the metal’ right till the end to win the rally.” By winning three stages in succession (SS17-19) Jari-Matti Latvala closed the gap to Ogier and took the lead just before the Power Stage. Loeb decided it was better to settle for third and lifted off. This left only Latvala and Ogier locked in battle for victory. They both gave their all in the final stage. The Citroën Total World Rally Team members could not believe their eyes when they saw their driver setting the fastest time and beating his rival by just 2/10s! A delighted Ogier said: “Despite the fact that we were pushing like crazy, Jari-Matti gave us a hard time over the weekend. He banged in incredible times and we almost felt that there was nothing we could do about it. It was tough, but we never stopped thinking we could win, and Lady Luck smiled on us. It’s hardly believable to win the rally by such a tiny margin, but we’ve bagged the maximum amount of points with the Power Stage bonus. That’s put us back in the title hunt for the rest of the season.” What a rally!