Corsica WRC: Ogier on brink of fourth title with victory
Sebastien Ogier moved to the brink of his fourth World Rally Championship title after sealing his fourth victory of the year on home turf in Corsica by a comfortable margin from Thierry Neuville.
Photo by: Volkswagen Motorsport
Ogier began the final morning with 46 seconds in hand Neuville, a gap that was trimmed to 43.8s with a cautious run through the penultimate stage of the rally, the 53.8-km Poggio di Nazza.
That stage, the longest of the rally, was won in crushing style by Kris Meeke - back in the event under Rally2 rules after hitting a tree on Saturday morning - as the Citroen driver led nearest rival Hayden Paddon by a mammoth 35.3s.
Meeke continued his hot streak in the Power Stage, the 10.4-km Palombaggia test, beating Andreas Mikkelsen by half a second to claim the three bonus points on offer.
Ogier came through the final stage in third, 1.6s slower than Meeke, to secure overall victory by 46.4s over Neuville - his 36th in the WRC and his third on home soil.
"That feels great and what we wanted this weekend," said Ogier. "This is my first win in Corsica and this is such an historic event. The championship smells quite good for us."
Mikkelsen's third place -1m10s slower than Volkswagen teammate Ogier - means the title battle goes on to next round in Spain, with Ogier holding an advantage of 68 points with a maximum of 84 available in the remaining rallies.
Latvala finished fourth, 25.6s back on Mikkelsen, ahead of Craig Breen (Citroen) and the Hyundais of Paddon and Dani Sordo, as the latter could make no further progress after recovering to seventh following his Friday puncture.
Completing the top 10 were the M-Sport-run Fords of Eric Camilli and Mads Ostberg, as well as the DMACK Ford of Ott Tanak.
Elfyn Evans (Ford) won the WRC2 class by 33 seconds from Jan Kopecky (Skoda).
Standings after SS10:
| Pos | Driver | Car | Time/Gap |
| 1. |  Sebastien Ogier |
Volkswagen | 4:07:17.0 |
| 2. |  Thierry Neuville |
Hyundai | +46.4 |
| 3. |  Andreas Mikkelsen |
Volkswagen | +1:10.0 |
| 4. |  Jari-Matti Latvala |
Volkswagen | +1:35.6 |
| 5. |  Craig Breen |
Citroen | +2.18.6 |
| 6. |  Hayden Paddon |
Hyundai | +2:36.1 |
| 7. |  Dani Sordo |
Hyundai | +3:06.9 |
| 8. | Eric Camilli |
Ford | +4:53.9 |
| 9. | Mads Ostberg |
Ford | +5:37.7 |
| 10. |  Ott Tanak |
Ford | +6:26.6 |
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