WRC France: Latvala reignites title challenge with win

Jari-Matti Latvala took his first World Rally Championship asphalt victory with a win in France to cut down the gap to WRC title rival and Volskwagen Motorsport teammate Sebastien Ogier to 27 points in the drivers championship with two rounds to go.

Title favourite Ogier arrived at his home circuit with a more than healthy cushion of 50 points. But on the first leg, he lost four minutes due to mechanical problems before a time penalty put him completely out of contention. A victory in the power stage, however, ensured that the Frenchman didn’t leave the rally empty handed.

Latvala took full advantage of his Volkswagen teammate’s troubles, winning nine of the 18 stages to take a comfortable overall victory by a margin of 44 seconds from the #9 Polo of Andrea Mikkelsen.

“It feels really, really good,’’ said Latvala. "It was a nervous start after what happened in Germany but I had learnt that lesson - without it wouldn’t have been able to do it here. We are still in the fight for the championship. It’s exciting for everybody, let’s keep it exciting till the end.”

Mikkelsen was neck and neck to Latvala on leg 1 but his challenge subsided from second day of the rally. Nevertheless, with with multiple stage victories he finished a net second place

Citroen’s Kris Meeke secured his first podium finish of the 2014 WRC season, albeit over a minute behind rally winner Latvala.

Hyundai’s Dani Sordo finished ahead of Mikko Hirvonen and Elfyn Evans. The latter grabbed two additional bonus points for finishing second in the power stage which brought the 2014 Rally de France to a conclusion.

WRC France Results - Top 10

1. Jari-Matti Latvala Volkswagen 2hrs 38m 19.1s
2. Andreas Mikkelsen Volkswagen +00m 44.8s
3. Kris Meeke Citroen +01m 05.3s
4. Dani Sordo Hyundai +01m 48.7s
5. Mikko Hirvonen M-Sport +02m 00.7s
6. Elfyn Evans M-Sport WRT +03m 00.8s
7. Mads Ostberg Citroen +03m 02.5s
8. Thierry Neuville Hyundai +04m 08.4s
9. Bryan Bouffier Hyundai +04m 12.9s
10. Martin Prokop Jipocar Czech National Team +06m 07.5s