Latvala seals his first asphalt win

05.10.14
Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila claimed their first-ever victory on asphalt today at Rallye de France Alsace, the Finns dominating the entire event in the Polo R WRC. Volkswagen stable-mates Andreas Mikkelsen and Ola Floene finished 44.8 seconds adrift in second position and the Citroën DS3 WRC crew of Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle completed the French podium.
 
In the FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers, Ogier continues to head the leaderboard but after a devastating home rally the Frenchman could only climb to 13th overall, however did manage to salvage three points in the Power Stage. As such, he and Latvala will take their fight for the world title to Spain in three weeks’ time. While the Manufacturers’ title has already been secured by Volkswagen Motorsport*, the Citroën Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team, M-Sport World Rally Team and Hyundai Motorsport continue their push for second position.
 
The final day of competition was the shortest and covered two loops of two stages and 63.38 competitive kilometres, but with no opportunity for service. With a 28 second advantage this morning Latvala was able to control the field and the Finn rounded off the perfect weekend with one additional point for claiming third position in the Power Stage. His win represents his fourth of the season, 12th overall in the WRC and he becomes the first Finn to win on Tarmac for the first time since Tommi Mäkinen claimed victory in the 1999 Sanremo Rally. Mikkelsen picked up his fifth podium of the season, and his career, and Kris Meeke contained any desire to push over the closing stages to take another podium and solid points for himself and Citroën. 
 
After a fine run to fourth position, and a fastest stage time in SS12, Robert Kubica went off the road in the final stage, promoting Dani Sordo back up the leaderboard. Mikko Hirvonen was a close fifth, the Finn just 12 seconds adrift, and Elfyn Evans climbed from an overnight eighth to sixth ahead of Mads Østberg, another stage winner, who finished only 1.7 seconds further behind. Thierry Neuville and Bryan Bouffier were closely matched in eighth and ninth and Martin Prokop rounded off the top 10. 
 
In the FIA WRC 2 Championship, Frenchman Quentin Gilbert and his Belgian co-driver Renaud Jamoul took the honours and in the Junior WRC Championship Alastair Fisher and Gordon Noble won in the Citroën DS3 R3T. The FIA Junior WRC Championship title was also claimed in France by Stephane Lefebvre and Thomas Dubois*.
 
The penultimate round of the 2014 FIA World Rally Championship takes the contenders to the mixed surface RallyRACC Catalunya-Costa Daurada, Rally de España, where the fight for the world title will resume.
 
Rallye de France Alsace – Final Unofficial Results (subject to scrutineering)
 

1.   Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila

Volkswagen Polo R WRC

2hr 38min 19.1sec

2.   Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Floene

Volkswagen Polo R WRC

2hr 39min 03.9sec

3.   Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle

Citroën DS3 WRC

2hr 39min 24.4sec

4.   Dani Sordo/Marc Marti

Hyundai i20 WRC

2hr 40min 07.8sec

5.   Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen

Ford Fiesta RS WRC

2hr 40min 19.8sec

6.   Elfyn Evans/Daniel Barritt

Ford Fiesta RS WRC

2hr 41min 19.9sec

7.   Mads Østberg/Jonas Andersson

Citroën DS3 WRC

2hr 41min 21.6sec

8.   Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul

Hyundai i20 WRC

2hr 42min 27.5sec

9.   Bryan Bouffier/Xavier Panseri

Hyundai i20 WRC

2hr 42min 32.0sec

10. Martin Prokop/Jan Tomanek

Ford Fiesta RS WRC

2hr 44min 26.6sec

 
FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers (after 11 of 13 rounds)
 

Sébastien Ogier (FRA)

217 points

Jari-Matti Latvala (FIN)

190 points

Andreas Mikkelsen (NOR)

143 points

Mikko Hirvonen (FIN)

93 points

Thierry Neuville (BEL)

83 points

Kris Meeke (GBR)

82 points

Mads Østberg (NOR)

80 points

Elfyn Evans (GBR)

71 points

Martin Prokop (CZE)

38 points

Dani Sordo (ESP)

30 points

Henning Solberg (NOR)

26 points

Bryan Bouffier (FRA)

20 points

Juho Hänninen (FIN)

20 points

Hayden Paddon (NZL)

16 points

Robert Kubica (POL)

14 points

Ott Tanak (EST)

11 points

Benito Guerra (MEX)

8 points

Chris Atkinson (AUS)

7 points

Pontus Tidemand (SWE)

6 points

Dennis Kuipers (NLD)

4 points

Jaroslav Melicharek (SVK)

4 points

Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT)

3 points

Lorenzo Bertelli (ITA)

2 points

Matteo Gamba (ITA)

2 points

Craig Breen (IRL)

2 points

Yuriy Protasov (UKR)

2 points

Jari Ketomaa (FIN)

1 point

Karl Kruuda (EST)

1 point

Khalid Al Qassimi (ARE)

1 point

 
FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers (after 11 of 13 rounds)
 

Volkswagen Motorsport

373 points

Citroën Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team

175 points

M-Sport World Rally Team

164 points

Hyundai Motorsport

157 points

Volkswagen Motorsport II

127 points

Jipocar Czech National Team

41 points

RK M-Sport World Rally Team

25 points

Hyundai Motorsport N

24 points

 
 
* Subject to the official publication of the results by the FIA