WRC: Sebastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia again on the top of the world!

Sebastien Ogier wins the 2016 Rally Catalunya and clinches his fourth consecutive World Rally Championship title, two rounds before the end of the season. The driver of Volkswagen Motorsport’s Polo R WRC joins the company of two rally legends who are four-time WRC winners – Juha Kankkunen and Tommi Mäkinen. In all four championship-winning seasons, Ogier’s navigator was Julien Ingrassia.

Ogier entered the Spanish round with 68-points gap over his teammate Andreas Mikkelsen, who was the only driver with mathematical chances to jeopardize Ogier’s championship lead. Mikkelsen crashed out on Saturday’s Special Stage 12, rolling his #9 Volkswagen Polo into the woods, so Ogier had a clear way to his new championship crown.

Andreas Mikkelsen crashed out on Saturday’s SS12

Ogier took his third Catalonyan victory ahead of two Hyundai drivers Dani Sordo and Thierry Neuville. Sordo ended Friday as the rally leader and led for most of Saturday, losing first place after SS14. Since then, Ogier was increasing his advantage to the final gap of 15.8 seconds after 19 special stages. Third Hyundai’s driver Hayden Paddon finished fourth in the Spain.

Mads Ostberg, Ott Tanak, Kevin Abbring, Jan Kopecky, Pontus Tidemand and Craig Breen completed the Top 10, claiming points in the WRC classification. In the Power Stage, Jari-Matti Latvala was the fastest, ahead of Ogier and Sordo. Neuville was fourth at the Power Stage and doesn’t take additional points, so he is now tied in the points with Mikkelsen in the second place of the championship standings. Two more events are scheduled for the rest of the season – Wales Rally and Rally Australia.