Julien Ingrassia & Sebastien Ogier on top of their VW Polo R WRC Sebastien Ogier is the winner of the 2016 edition of Tour de Corse, Co...
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| Julien Ingrassia & Sebastien Ogier on top of their VW Polo R WRC |
Sebastien Ogier is the winner of the 2016 edition of Tour de Corse, Corsica. The rally being he 11th round in the championship, this year's Rallye de France had all the elements of what the rally is, minus the previous year's crazy floods. The rally had mild showers during the start, and was relatively dry on the rest of the event. Ogier was hungry for it, and he got one for himself! A first Corsica victory for him.
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| Sebastien Ogier smiling! |
Without a complaint, Ogier was the first on the road, opening the stages and had all the advantages of a proper sealed surface rally to his benefit. He continued to dominate the entire rally, flawlessly, and the outcome was obviously a grand victory.
Keeping the cool, managing the car, tires, opponents on the forefront is what it takes to be a true champion, which he certainly has in abundance. No doubt! Mathematically he had a fair chance to seal the 2016 driver's championship, if he had all the maximum points in his favour.
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| Kris Meeke, Craig Breen & DS3's |
Kris Meeke, was another strong contender and was in his driving elements the best, until he too caught up an unexpected puncture and his threat to the champion, vanished in thin air with it. One wrong pace note call later in the day, that was all that it took him to crash his Citroen DS3 WRC knocking off a wheel and spent the rest of the day being a spectator than a competitor! Fellow Brit Craig Breen displayed his potential, with a strong overall 5th finish.
Jari-Matti Latvala, last year's winner was struggling during the first few stages of the event, and his chances on the podium was getting thinner with every passing stage. His biggest worry was not finding the best feeling and the much needed rhythm to settle in his winning groove. However it never came calling this event and he had to settle for 4th overall at the end!
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| Mikkelsen executing hairpin bend |
Andreas Mikkelsen, was competitive from the beginning, seems like he had his goals set and finished on the podium, on the third step,i.e.,! A good show by the young Norwegian, never misses to awe his fans. Well almost!
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| Thierry Neuville interviewed |
Thierry Neuville's performance was splendid, considering his outcome with Hyundai since the beginning of their union. He drove in a real competitive spirit, and the result speaks for itself. The first few stages left the Hyundai drivers complaining of some under-steering issues, Neuville was enjoying the rest of them, in a good way! Dani Sordo & Hayden Paddon never caught up and were somewhat left struggling throughout the rally one thing or the other.
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| Mads Ostberg celebrating 100th WRC |
Tour de Corse was also Mads Ostberg's centenary WRC event for the Norwegian, and with what he said 'a change of style in driving' didn't yield any surprising outcome, however he didn't forget to mention that it could get him there someday soon! Eric Camilli's performance was not hair-rising, but not bad, was neither for M-Sport.
So the final result was Andreas finished second runner up, Thierry in the second place, and Sebastien Ogier winning it outright.
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| Winners champagne on podium, Tour de Corse, Ogier, Ingrassia, Neuville, Gilsoul, Mikkelsen & Jaeger, with officials! |
As mentioned earlier, Ogier did have a chance to win the championship along with the rally, but for that he had to win all the extra bonus points in the rally's Power-stage, but he opted to "finish the rally the first, to finish first" and just got one for third place power-stage finish! He will have to wait till the next rally to get that required "two" points to bag the 4th title, and there is little chance in failing it, with three more rallies in the season.
WRC 2 :
Elfyn Evans was the leader from the word "Go"! He drove flawlessly throughout the entire course of the rally and showed what it takes to win.
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| Elfyn Evans negotiating a hairpin turn in his MSport Ford Fiesta R5, at Tour de Corse |
Czech's Jan Kopecky was pushing hard behind him, had to settle for second, while Frenchman Yoann Bonato settled for the third spot on the step!
WRC 3 :
Laurent Pellier won the category followed by , Yohan Rossel in second , and Martin Koci in third place.
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| Yohan Rossel over a bridge over railway at Tour de Corse, Rally de France 2016. |
Well that's it from this edition of #TourdeCorse folks! Next stop #RallyRACC Catalunya, Rally de Espana. See you there!
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