Sébastien Ogier joins WRC legends Juha Kankkunen and Tommi Mäkinen as a four-time FIA World Rally Champion.

Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia today won Rally de España and, in doing so, have claimed their fourth consecutive FIA World Rally Championship title with two rounds remaining*. The Volkswagen duo defeated Dani Sordo and Marc Marti on home soil, the Spaniards having battled hard to regain their earlier lead in the event. Team-mates Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul rounded off a great weekend for Hyundai with the final podium position.

In the FIA World Rally Championship, the fight for second position is now game-on. With Andreas Mikkelsen failing to score in Spain, he and Neuville are now level-pegging on points with everything to play for in the final two rounds. In the Manufacturers’ Championship, Hyundai Motorsport reduced the deficit but Volkswagen Motorsport continues to head the standings by 62 points.

The final day of RallyRACC Rally de España covered two loops of two stages, culminating in the all-important Power Stage where Jari-Matti Latvala picked up his only points of the rally with the fastest time. Ogier, having started to pull out his advantage over Sordo last night, was able to control the pace over the closing stages and the Frenchman wrapped up his 37th career victory in fine style with his fifth win of the season and 300th for VW’s tyre partner Michelin. He now becomes one of the few drivers to win at least four world titles; Juha Kankkunen, Tommi Mäkinen and Sébastien Loeb having achieved this accolade. Sordo pushed hard for his fans and finished 15.6 seconds adrift, delighting the home crowds with an impressive performance. His team-mate Thierry Neuville was pushing hard for the extra Power Stage points to secure second in the Championship, following the retirement of Mikkelsen. However, the Belgian missed out by one position in the final stage, finishing fourth but a fine third overall. Hayden Paddon, in a third Hyundai i20, finished 12.8 seconds behind in fourth overall on his 100th WRC event with co-driver John Kennard. Mads Østberg was a lonely fifth with Ott Tanak sixth, both in similar Fiesta RS WRC machinery. Kevin Abbring, in Hyundai’s fourth i20, took a WRC career best with seventh.

Jan Kopecky claimed the FIA WRC 2 Championship category win and finished an impressive eighth overall in his Škoda Fabia R5. The Czech driver battled hard with team-mate Pontus Tidemand throughout the event and the pair were split by just 15.3 seconds at the finish, the Swede taking ninth overall. Craig Breen was the sole DS3 WRC finisher, in 10th, team-mate Kris Meeke retiring in the first stage this morning with an engine problem. Having lost time with suspension damage earlier in the rally, Jari-Matti Latvala was 14th with three stage wins today, and Martin Prokop was forced out from 10th position having taken a wheel off.

The FIA WRC 3 Championship was won by Fabio Andolfi in a Peugeot 208 R2, the Italian winning by nearly nine minutes after his rivals suffered punctures on the opening day.

The penultimate round of the FIA World Rally Championship takes the crews back to the gravel roads in the forests of Wales for Rally GB (27-30 October).

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

RallyRACC – Rally de España – Final Unofficial Classification (subject to scrutineering)