Ogier races to title win

SEBASTIEN Ogier enhanced his legend yesterday by claiming his sixth straight World Rally Championship title.

Winning a three-man fight for the crown against Thierry Neuville and Ott Tanak, the French rally great survived another day of drama at the season-ending Rally Australia in Coffs Harbour to seal the season championship.

Ogier had just a four-point lead coming into the decider and was faultless as his rivals came unstuck in the Coffs Harbour mud.

The 34-year-old Ogier is now three championship wins away from equalling Sebastien Loeb’s all-time record of nine WRC crowns.

“It’s been an incredible season’’ Ogier said.

“It has been so close. Not so long ago we were thinking it was going to be tough to grab this title but we never gave up. We gave everything, with a fantastic team behind us who kept fighting and in the end we grabbed it in the last rally. It’s so emotional.”

Ogier has his sights set on becoming just the second driver to win title with three different manufacturers following his final drive with Ford.

“It’s hard to leave,’’ Ogier said.

“It’s like leaving a girl you love. It’s like ‘why are we doing that, we achieved everything we wanted these two years?’.

“But it’s an exciting adventure ahead and we’ve had the best way to say goodbye to each other.”

Ogier’s championship win overshadowed the efforts of Jari-Matti Latvala, who outlasted New Zealand’s Hayden Paddon, to win the Australian Rally.