VW’s Ogier clinches his fourth WRC on the trot

SEBASTIEN Ogier clinched his fourth successive World Rally Championship for Volkswagen on Sunday after winning in Spain.

Ogier’s title was the 13th in a row by a French driver called Sebastien, with compatriot Sebastien Loeb winning a record nine consecutively before him with Citroën between 2004 and 2012.

The Volkswagen driver had needed 16 points to be sure of the title – effectively third place and one of three bonus points available – but in the end his comfortable victory in last weekend’s Rally of Catalunya made all such calculations unnecessary.

The victory, on the championship’s only mixed surface rally with gravel and asphalt stages, was the 37th of Ogier’s career and fifth of the season.

Ogier now has an unassailable 222 points in the championship. Lying in joint second place are his VW team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen, who clipped a barrier and rolled his Polo while running third in Spain on Saturday, and Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville now level on 127 points. The 32-year-old Frenchman equalled the achievements of Finland’s Tommi Makinen, who also won four titles in a row between 1996 and 1999, and Juha Kankkunen as quadruple champions. Only Loeb has won more. The next round is in Britain on October 27-30, with the final rally to be held in Australia in November. – Reuters