Sebastien Ogier clinched his maiden World Rally Championship victory in Portugal. The Frenchman secured the win by keeping fellow Citroen driver Sebastien Loeb at bay during the day's earlier stages and sealed the achievement on the final 2km superspecial asphalt stage in the Algarve stadium.
Ogier went head-to-head with Loeb for the finale in the stadium and beat the reigning world champion by 0.2s, giving him an overall winning margin of just 7.9s.
"To win my first rally like this, after a big battle with Seb, is just perfect. In New Zealand I lost it but I said that when I did win, it would be even more happy - and I am very happy today."
Loeb conceded that he was simply unable to beat Ogier over the weekend and congratulated his countryman on his maiden win. "He has done very, very well here - he was unbeatable," said Loeb.
The final stage was won by Federico Villagra, setting a time 0.7s quicker than second-placed Matt Wilson, with Kimi Raikkonen third. Ogier and Loeb were two seconds slower than Villagra in sixth and seventh.
Classification
1. Sebastien Ogier - Citroen 3h51.16.1s
2. Sebastien Loeb - Citroen +7.9s
3. Dani Sordo - Citroen +1m17.6s
4. Mikko Hirvonen - Ford +1m32.0s
5. Petter Solberg - Citroen +1m35.7s
6. Matthew Wilson - Ford +7m10.1s
7. Mads Ostberg - Subaru +7m28.3s
8. Federico Villagra - Ford +10m36.1s
9. Khalid Al Qassimi - Ford +10m55.8s
10. Kimi Raikkonen - Citroen +11m34.3s