Volkswagen Motorsport’s Sebastien Ogier has claimed his third consecutive World Rally Championship win with victory on Rally Portugal.
Having already won in Sweden and Mexico, Ogier now holds a 54-point cushion over Hirvonen in the championship who finished second in Portugal behind the wheel of his Citroen DS3.
“Unbelievable. What a rollercoaster ride here in Portugal!” Ogier claimed.
“I am overjoyed with the win. First the illness, then the brutal stages, which really push a rally car to the very limit.
“When we had the problem with the power transmission on this morning’s opening stage, I thought: ‘That’s it Séb. The rally is over.’ Fortunately we made it to the service and the guys did a fantastic job there.
“I will now try to get as much rest and regain as much strength as possible in time for Argentina.”
Ogier’s team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala had to surrender second place overall after a broken front-right drive shaft forced him to contest the 52.30-kilometre Almodovar stage (the longest in the WRC) with rear-wheel drive only.
He did, however, overcame the hindrance to hold off Qatar M-Sport driver Evgeny Novikov and earn his place on the podium.
Olympic skeet shooting medallist slash WRC regular Nasser Al-Attiyah also led the way for the Qatar World Rally Team squad as they brought their Ford Fiesta RS home in fifth.
“Fourth place is a very good result for us, but still I was not so happy with the times. It was a difficult weekend for us. I was pushing on the stages but for some reason the times just weren’t where they needed to be,” said Novikov.
“This [fourth place] is definitely the maximum I could have achieved this weekend, so I am happy with that. Now we just need to make sure we work hard and come back stronger in Argentina.”
Esapekka Lappi ended up taking a dominant victory in the WRC2 category, however it was former F1 race winner Robert Kubica who impressed after moving into second on the opening day before a multitude of technical issues saw stop to a podium result on debut.
“For my first gravel rally, I think I have shown good pace on the stages where I didn’t have any problems,” said Kubica.
“Overall, it has been pretty positive, although we have been a bit unlucky at times.”
The next round of the World Rally Championship starts in less that three weeks when Rally Argentina gets underway on 1 May.
2013 WRC Rally Portugal Results
| Pos | Driver | Car/Engine | Laps | Time/Delay |
| 1 | Sébastien Ogier | Volkswagen | 15 | 4h 07:38.7 |
| 2 | Mikko Hirvonen | Citroen | 15 | 58.2 |
| 3 | Jari-Matti Latvala | Volkswagen | 15 | 4:04.5 |
| 4 | Evgeny Novikov | Ford | 15 | 5:27.7 |
| 5 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Ford | 15 | 7:43.5 |
| 6 | Andreas Mikkelsen | Volkswagen | 15 | 9:39.8 |
| 7 | Martin Prokop | Ford | 15 | 15:04.2 |
| 8 | Mads Østberg | Ford | 15 | 15:43.6 |
| 9 | Khalid Al-Qassimi | Citroen | 15 | 15:56.9 |
| 10 | Esapekka Lappi | Skoda | 15 | 16:21.0 |
| 11 | Robert Barrable | Ford | 15 | 27:57.5 |
| 12 | Daniel Sordo | Citroen | 15 | 30:36.8 |
| 13 | Bryan Bouffier | Citroen | 15 | 31:13.8 |
| 14 | Sepp Wiegand | Skoda | 15 | 31:24.1 |
| 15 | Nicolás Fuchs | Mitsubishi | 15 | 35:46.8 |
| 16 | Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari | Ford | 15 | 37:54.4 |
| 17 | Thierry Neuville | Ford | 15 | 38:22.8 |
| 18 | Miguel Barbosa | Mitsubishi | 15 | 38:32.7 |
| 19 | Robert Kubica | Citroen | 15 | 39:32.2 |
| 20 | Sébastien Chardonnet | Citroen | 15 | 41:20.4 |
2013 WRC drivers’ standings
| Pos | Driver | Points |
| 1 | Sébastien Ogier | 102 |
| 2 | Mikko Hirvonen | 48 |
| 3 | Sébastien Loeb | 43 |
| 4 | Mads Østberg | 32 |
| 5 | Jari-Matti Latvala | 31 |
| 6 | Daniel Sordo | 27 |
| 7 | Thierry Neuville | 25 |
| 8 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | 20 |
| 9 | Martin Prokop | 20 |
| 10 | Evgeny Novikov | 15 |
2013 WRC manufacturers’ standings
| Pos | Team | Points |
| 1 | Volkswagen Motorsport | 121 |
| 2 | Citroën Total Abu Dhabi WRT | 107 |
| 3 | Qatar M-Sport WRT | 55 |
| 4 | Qatar World Rally Team | 36 |
| 5 | Abu Dhabi Citroën Total WRT | 27 |
| 6 | Jipocar Czech National Team | 22 |
| 7 | Lotos Rally Team | 12 |
| 8 | Volkswagen Motorsport II | 10 |
Video highlights from Stages 12 and 13 on Sunday
Video highlights from the final two stages on Sunday
