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M-Sport Ford driver Sebastien Ogier has won a sixth the World Rally Championship title, following Toyota driver Ott Tanak’s retirement from the Rally Australia season finale.
Tanak pulled over with an apparent gearbox problem on the penultimate stage, but an impact warning light flashing in the Toyota Yaris WRC hinted the transmission failure could have been the result of an earlier issue.
He had been second on the event, but even with victory and a powerstage win that wouldn’t be enough to usurp Ogier who was doing everything he needed to do by holding sixth in the overall order.
Ogier’s only other rival for this year’s championship – Hyundai driver Thierry Neuville – retired on the first stage of the final loop on Sunday morning while he was two spots behind Ogier, when he needed to finish ahead to have a title chance.
The Belgian spun and knocked a wheel off his i20 Coupe WRC having languished at the lower-end of the top 10 thanks to a puncture and hitting a chicane on Friday afternoon.
Leading the series coming into Australia, Ogier doesn’t even need to finish the event now – but has already promised to ‘drive like his grandma’ through the Wedding Bells powerstage.
Rally victory for Jari-Matti Latvala would give Toyota the manufacturer championship and the Finn leads the New South Wales event by 32s from Hyundai man Hayden Paddon.