Reigning World Rally Champion Sebastien Ogier has won the 2016 ADAC Rallye Deutschland, round nine of the FIA World Rally Championship. The Volkswagen Motorsport driver crossed the finish line in his VW Polo WRC to win by 20.3 seconds from Hyundai Motorsport’s Dani Sordo overcoming a mid season slump that saw him searching for a win since Rally Sweden in February.
The Frenchman recovered from an overshoot on day one to overhaul his teammate Andreas Mikkelsen on day two which meant he came into the final leg just needing to bring the car home. “This is great,” Ogier said at the finish. “I haven’t had a chance to win on the recent rallies and I was missing that feeling for sure. It’s been really exciting and a long time since I was battling like this for a win. I really had to push to beat the guys around me.”
The big story on the final day was the push by Hyundai Motorsport. Dani Sordo and Thierry Neuville overhauled Mikkelsen on the first loop and set about fighting it out for second place. The Spaniard crossed the line just 0.1 seconds ahead of Neuville.
Sordo was understandably delighted to secure the runners up spot. “That was unbelievably close,” said the Spaniard. “I’m delighted to take my first podium of the season. We have come close so many times this season so it’s great we’ve finally done it!”
Mikkelsen brought the second VW home in fourth while Hayden Paddon rounded out Hyundai’s effort with fifth in the i20 WRC. Mads Ostberg completed the top six in his M-Sport Ford Fiesta RS WRC.
In WRC2 the top three after the second leg remained unchanged after the completion of the event. Esapekka Lappi completed another impressive drive to win in his Skoda Fabia R5 while Jan Kopecky was just over a minute behind in a similar machine. German driver Armin Kremer rounded out the top three in his Fabia R5.
In the Junior World Rally Championship the close battle between Simone Tempestini and Martin Koci didn’t reignite as Tempestini extended his advantage to 38.9 seconds over Koci at the finish. French driver Terry Folb rounded out the top three over two minutes off the lead.