Ogier takes Fafe Rally Sprint win

World Rally champion Sebastien Ogier took victory in the Fafe Rally Sprint, in the Frenchman's first outing in the Portuguese event.

The now traditional, but non-championship, warm-up for Portugal's round of the World Rally Championship takes place in the northern heartland of the country's rally fan base, and once again spectator figures passed the 100,000 mark for the single-day event.

Ogier, who was forced to miss last year's event due to illness, won the three-mile stage by half a second from M-Sport Fiesta RS WRC man Ott Tanak.

The crews were given a couple of qualifying runs before the final shootout. Ogier sacrificed one of his early runs to thrill the crowd with some mid-stage donuts.

"That was amazing," he said at the finish. "The fans here are about the most passionate in the world and in some places you couldn't see the landscape for people. The stage is very demanding and the famous jump is huge."

One place behind Tanak was last year's Fafe winner Dani Sordo, who ensured a second podium in succession for Hyundai. His i20 WRC was 2.2s down on Ogier.

The WRC crews will now head south for the fourth round of the championship, which runs out of the Algarve from Thursday.