Andreas Mikkelsen scored an emotional Kennards Hire Rally Australia victory as Volkswagen signed off its four-year World Rally Championship tenure in style.
Mikkelsen and co-driver Anders Jaeger assumed the lead of the Coffs Harbour event from the first sequence of stages on Friday but were forced to survive a surge from team-mate Sebastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia.
The Norwegian headed into Sunday with a scant 2s buffer over Ogier which was significantly extended after storming drives in the opening two stages.
His victory bid was also helped by a rare error from a charging Ogier, who suffered a spin on the 31.9km Bucca stage, dropping 17s to his rival.
The mistake eased the pressure on Mikkelsen allowing him to produce a measured drive in the final three stages to score a memorable victory by 14.9s from Ogier, who claimed the final stage.
With VW dominating WRC by winning four consecutive driver’s, co-driver’s and constructor’s crowns, Mikkelsen admitted its was a special moment to claim the marque’s final win.
“It has been such a perfect weekend,” said Mikkelsen, who scored 10 stage wins at Rally Australia on his way to his first win since Poland in July.
“We came here with nothing to lose.
“We managed to beat Sebastien (Ogier) fair and square and it feels amazing.
“For sure we had to go flat out in the early stages. There was only 2s in between.
“I was pushing with maximum attack on the first stage (Bucca).
“We were pushing very hard.”
“It is very hard to see this team come to an end and I will miss this car.”
Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul claimed the final place on the podium which helped him cement second in the championship after a resurgent second half of the season.
The Belgian was promoted into the podium positions after Stage 20 when team-mate Hayden Paddon made a mistake and suffered a puncture.
Neuville’s weekend didn’t run without a hitch after copping a $1,082 fine for speeding on his way to the Destination NSW Super Special on Friday.
Paddon and John Kennard had been in contention for the victory until the error which cost him more than minute to Mikkelsen demoted them to fifth.
However, the Kiwi still managed to score his best finish in Rally Australia by coming home in fourth 1:26.7s behind, bettering his fifth of last year.
Spain’s Dani Sordo and Marc Marti finished fifth for Hyundai, while Mads Ostberg emerged as the top M-Sport Ford runner in sixth.
Eric Camelli, driving the second M-Sport Fiesta was forced to retire from the event after a heavy roll in the first run through Wedding Bells.
In WRC2, Esapekka Lappi claimed the title with a dominant drive to eighth overall ahead of the Volkswagen of Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila after failing to recover from a crash on Friday’s opening stage.
VIDEO: Final stage highlights
Result: Kennards Hire Rally Australia
| POS | CAR NO | DRIVER | CO-DRIVER | TEAM | ELIGIBILITY | GROUP CLASS | TIME | DIFF PREV | DIFF 1ST |
| 1. | 9 |  A. MIKKELSEN |
A. JAEGER SYNNEVAG |
VOLKSWAGEN MOTORSPORT II | T | RC1 | 2:46:05.7 | ||
| 2. | 1 |  S. OGIER |
J. INGRASSIA |
VOLKSWAGEN MOTORSPORT | M | RC1 | 2:46:20.6 | +14.9 | +14.9 |
| 3. | 3 |  T. NEUVILLE |
N. GILSOUL |
HYUNDAI MOTORSPORT | M | RC1 | 2:47:18.3 | +57.7 | +1:12.6 |
| 4. | 4 |  H. PADDON |
J. KENNARD |
HYUNDAI MOTORSPORT | M | RC1 | 2:47:32.4 | +14.1 | +1:26.7 |
| 5. | 20 |  D. SORDO |
M. MARTI |
HYUNDAI MOTORSPORT N | T | RC1 | 2:47:34.0 | +1.6 | +1:28.3 |
| 6. | 5 | M. OSTBERG |
O. FLOENE |
M-SPORT WORLD RALLY TEAM | M | RC1 | 2:47:47.2 | +13.2 | +1:41.5 |
| 7. | 12 |  O. TANAK |
R. MOLDER |
DMACK WORLD RALLY TEAM | T | RC1 | 2:49:10.0 | +1:22.8 | +3:04.3 |
| 8. | 31 |  E. LAPPI |
J. FERM |
SKODA MOTORSPORT | WRC2 | RC2 | 2:53:38.0 | +4:28.0 | +7:32.3 |
| 9. | 2 | J. LATVALA |
M. ANTTILA |
VOLKSWAGEN MOTORSPORT | M | RC1 | 2:54:02.6 | +24.6 | +7:56.9 |
| 10. | 37 |  L. BERTELLI |
S. SCATTOLIN |
F.W.R.T. | RC1 | 2:54:05.8 | +3.2 | +8:00.1 | |
| 11. | 42 |  N. FUCHS |
 F. MUSSANO |
NICHOLAS FUCHS | WRC2 | RC2 | 2:58:13.8 | +4:08.0 | +12:08.1 |
| 12. | 33 |  H. PTASZEK |
M. SZCZEPANIAK |
PEUGEOT SPORT SLOVAKIA | WRC2 | RC2 | 3:00:20.9 | +2:07.1 | +14:15.2 |
| 13. | 67 |  M. TAYLOR |
W. HAYES |
LES WALKDEN | RC2 | 3:08:06.5 | +7:45.6 | +22:00.8 | |
| 14. | 65 | H. BATES |
J. MCCARTHY |
NEAL BATES | ASN | 3:10:32.5 | +2:26.0 | +24:26.8 | |
| 15. | 68 | B. MARKOVIC |
G. MACNEALL |
BRAD MARKOVIC | ASN | 3:14:24.0 | +3:51.5 | +28:18.3 | |
| 16. | 72 | T. SULLENS |
K. NEWELL |
TONY SULLENS | ASN | 3:14:31.3 | +7.3 | +28:25.6 | |
| 17. | 76 | T. CLARKE |
R. PRESTON |
TOM CLARKE | ASN | 3:19:04.9 | +4:33.6 | +32:59.2 | |
| 18. | 70 | D. KING |
D. NICOLI |
DYLAN KING | ASN | 3:23:59.1 | +4:54.2 | +37:53.4 | |
| 19. | 62 | M. FABRE |
M. VILMOT |
SAINTELOC JUNIOR TEAM | WRC3 | RC3 | 3:27:18.8 | +3:19.7 | +41:13.1 |
| 20. | 78 | P. DUNN |
D. NEAGLE |
PETER DUNN | RC2 | 3:36:49.5 | +9:30.7 | +50:43.8 | |
| 21. | 35 |  K. AL-SUWAIDI |
 M. CLARKE |
CULTURE & SPORT QATAR RALLY TEAM | WRC2 | RC2 | 3:47:27.1 | +10:37.6 | +1:01:21.4 |
| 22. | 34 |  J. SERDERIDIS |
F. MICLOTTE |
JOURDAN SERDERIDIS | WRC2 | RC2 | 3:52:41.6 | +5:14.5 | +1:06:35.9 |
| 23. | 64 | N. QUINN |
D. CALDER |
NATHAN QUINN | ASN | 4:02:53.7 | +10:12.1 | +1:16:48.0 | |
| 24. | 63 | B. REEVES |
R. GELSOMINO |
BRENDAN REEVES | ASN | 4:12:59.2 | +10:05.5 | +1:26:53.5 |
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