French ace Sebastien Ogier is on the brink of a third straight title after extending his lead in the closing stages of Coates Hire Rally Australia.
Starting the final day with a slender .3s lead, Ogier blasted through SS13 to take the 21.95km Bucca Long stage.
Ogier’s Volkswagen team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala has moved into second overall, slipping past Citroen’s Kris Meeke who is now in a fight to hold onto the final podium position.
Benefitting from being last into the stage, Ogier was 2.5s faster than Latvala to squeeze out a crucial 5.1s lead following SS13.
This was despite a scare towards the end when Ogier missed a junction.
Ogier then covered the 9.23km Wedding Bells stage fastest, taking another 1s away from Latvala.
“It’s another good stage. A very clean drive from me on this stage. With Jari pushing behind I also have to push,” Ogier said.
Latvala pressed hard on the day’s opening stage suffering a couple of big compressions which cracked the windscreen of the Polo R.
“I don’t give up until I’m at the finish line. I’m realistic I know its hard but I try,” Latvala said.
“I had a good run. I really attacked and I can see that the windscreen is broken.”
Ogier completed a morning shut-out of the three stages, topping the 6.4km Settles Road run and blasting to a 7.3s overall lead.
Meeke goes into the final two stages clutching a dwindling 4.2s advantage over Andreas Mikkelsen who is pushing hard to hoist another Volkswagen podium sweep.
Hayden Paddon had a tidy morning and continues to set the pace for the Hyundai team in fifth overall 18.4s behind Mikkelsen.
Top 10 standings after SS15
POS | CAR NO | DRIVER | CO-DRIVER | TEAM | TIME | DIFF PREV | DIFF 1ST |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | 1 | S. OGIER | J. INGRASSIA | VOLKSWAGEN MOTORSPORT | 2:41:41.1 | ||
2. | 2 | J. LATVALA | M. ANTTILA | VOLKSWAGEN MOTORSPORT | 2:41:48.4 | +7.3 | +7.3 |
3. | 3 | K. MEEKE | P. NAGLE | CITROËN TOTAL ABU DHABI WRT | 2:42:00.7 | +12.3 | +19.6 |
4. | 9 | A. MIKKELSEN | O. FLOENE | VOLKSWAGEN MOTORSPORT II | 2:42:04.9 | +4.2 | +23.8 |
5. | 8 | H. PADDON | J. KENNARD | HYUNDAI MOTORSPORT | 2:42:23.3 | +18.4 | +42.2 |
6. | 6 | O. TANAK | R. MOLDER | M-SPORT WORLD RALLY TEAM | 2:42:53.2 | +29.9 | +1:12.1 |
7. | 7 | T. NEUVILLE | N. GILSOUL | HYUNDAI MOTORSPORT | 2:43:26.6 | +33.4 | +1:45.5 |
8. | 20 | D. SORDO | M. MARTI | HYUNDAI MOTORSPORT N | 2:43:33.7 | +7.1 | +1:52.6 |
9. | 5 | E. EVANS | D. BARRITT | M-SPORT WORLD RALLY TEAM | 2:45:42.4 | +2:08.7 | +4:01.3 |
10. | 4 | S. LEFEBVRE | S. PREVOT | CITROËN TOTAL ABU DHABI WRT | 2:57:12.6 | +11:30.2 | +15:31.5 |