Sebastien Ogier took his second career World Rally Championship victory at the WRC Rally Japan and cemented his 2nd place position in the driver’s points standings. Ogier went into the final day of Rally Japan, in 3rd place, but just 5.4 seconds behind Petter Solberg, but Solberg suffered a broken damper and Ogier was able to capture the victory by just over 15 seconds. “It’s amazing really and I’m really happy,” said Ogier. “Arriving here for my first time I knew it was a difficult rally because I don’t like stages that are very rough. But quickly I found a good feeling and a good rhythm.”
Sebastien Ogier drives his Citreon C4 to his 2nd victory of the year at WRC Rally Japan
In addition to the damper issue, Petter Solberg who was battling an illness and fever, also reported a serious steering issue on the final day and had no chance to repair either issue due to a midday service halt. Solberg still managed to drive his way to a 2nd place finish, despite the issues with the car and his health. The podium finish edged Solberg closer to Latvala and 3rd place in the driver’s standings. “I never thought it would go so well after the fever because I was terrible at the start of the rally,” said Solberg. “But I had a very good feeling. It’s just unfortunate we had a problem with the car.”
On-board with Petter Solberg
Ford’s Jari Matti Latvala was able to steal 3rd place back from Dani Sordo after the Citroen driver moved ahead of Latvala on stage 20. Sordo, running with the Citroen Junior Team, was forced to settle one out of a podium finish. Sordo currently sits in 5th place in the driver’s points standings.
Current driver’s points standings leader Sebastien Loeb finished 1 behind his usual teammate, Sordo, in 5th. Loeb was off of his usual pace, but the 10 points for his 5th place finish puts him on the brink of his 7th world title, which he should wrap up at Rally de France.
The previous Rally Japan winner, Mikko Hirvonen started the final day of the Rally in 2nd place, right on the heels of Solberg. But Ford’s #1, suffered a differential pump failure which made gearchanges very difficult and he could not keep up the pace and fell to 6th, as Loeb took 5th place from him late on Sunday.
Henning Solberg took 7th place and Fernando Villegra took 8th after Kimi Raikkonen had an off on the final day of competition and was forced to retire from the event.
Raikkonen crashes at 2010 WRC Rally Japan
WRC action continues this weekend in France, where Loeb looks to wrap up his 7th world title on his home turf.
