Sébastien Ogier has taken his first win in Corsica for Volkswagen at the 2016 Tour de Corse – Rallye de France.
The Frenchman has finally won on the rally that has eluded him his entire career as Ogier was unbeatable on the tarmac throughout the three days.
It is Ogier’s thirty-fifth World Rally Championship win, which puts him just 43 wins’ shy from the overall record by nine-times World Rally Champion and fellow countryman Sébastien Loeb with 78 wins.
Ogier also earned an extra point for finishing the Power Stage in third, which was won by Kris Meeke for Citroën, who picks up the full three points for winning the Power Stage.
Thierry Neuville claimed another podium finish for Hyundai in second, ahead of Ogier’s team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen in third.
The Norwegian picked up two points in the Power Stage, extending the battle for the 2016 WRC title between him and his team-mate Ogier to Catalunya.
Jari-Matti Latvala endured a problematic three days in Corsica, finishing fourth, ahead of Craig Breen, who was majestic on his first WRC asphalt start in fifth.
Hayden Paddon and Dani Sordo were sixth and seventh for Hyundai, while M-Sport’s Eric Camilli and Mads Østberg finished eighth and ninth respectively. DMACK’s Ott Tänak completes the WRC finishers in Corsica.
Credit: McKlein/M-Sport
In WRC2, Elfyn Evans took his third and final win of the 2016 WRC2 season in his seventh and final appearance in the season.
Evans was supreme on the site of his best-ever WRC result in Corsica last year as he finished ahead of the Škoda Fabia R5 of Jan Kopecký by +33.3 seconds.
Yoann Bonato secured the final podium place on his ‘home’ rally in third, ahead of his countrymen Julien Maurin, Pierre-Louis Loubet and Quentin Gilbert, who complete the top six finishers in the WRC2 category for Tour de Corse 2016.
Italy’s Simone Tempestini is the 2016 Junior WRC Champion after claiming fourth place in Corsica. Credit: @World Photography/Citroën Racing
Whilst in WRC3 and Junior WRC, it was Laurent Pellier who won on his ‘home’ rally to take victory at the 2016 Tour de Corse – Rallye de France.
Pellier snatched victory in Corsica after taking the lead in the WRC3 class from current leader Yohan Rossel, who has to settle for second place.
Slovenia’s Martin Koči finished in the final podium position in third, behind Pellier and Rossel.
Italy’s Simone Tempestini is the 2016 Junior WRC Champion after finishing ahead of his nearest rival Terry Folb in the Tour de Corse in fourth.
Folb, who won the Power Stage, was sixth, which was not enough for the Frenchman to take the title to the final round at Rally GB at the end of October.
The World Rally Championship continues with the twelfth round of the 2016 season at Rally Catalunya in two weeks’ time where we will find out if Sébastien Ogier can claim his fourth World Rally Championship in on the mixed surface stages of Spain.
