In the last stage Sébastien Ogier entered with a "knife in his teeth" and attacked with force the 1st place in the Rally de Catalunya.
Despite having entered the last stage with just 1.5s ahead of 2nd place and teammate Jari-Matti Latvala, French Volkswagen, Sébastien Ogier won the Rally de Catalunya with relative ease by adding an expressive 31.4s to the margin that I had from the day before. One last day of “knife in teeth” to ensure victory, in a rally where almost everything went perfectly for Volkswagen.
A partly predictable ending. Bearing in mind that the last day of the Rally de Catalunya was played on dirt floors – in contrast to the second day where tar was king and lord – Ogier won all four of today's six sections, always staying ahead of his own more direct opponents in the fight for the final victory.
Volkswagen also had many reasons to smile. With Jari-Matti Latvala's second place, Volkswagen achieves the double for the first time this year, thus maintaining the hope of conquering second place in the championship. In third place was Mikko Hirvonen who did not succeed in Spanish lands. In general, he was always between fifth and sixth and only in the last stage did he benefit from Sordo's abandonment and Neuville's long delay to climb to the top places in the general classification.
The duo Paulo Freire and Joaquim Capelo, supported by Razão Automóvel, were in good shape, reaching a meritorious 29th place overall. The only Portuguese team entitled to take the podium, congratulations!
