WRC: Ogier closing on season-ending victory

Sebastien Ogier continued to cruise towards Rally GB victory on Sunday morning, but Kris Meeke's second place is not totally safe from Andreas Mikkelsen and there has been drama behind.

A crash for fourth-placed Ott Tanak was the main incident of the opening stages of the 2015 World Rally Championship's final day. The Estonian – who is fighting to keep his M-Sport drive for 2016 – had begun the day 14.7 seconds clear of Dani Sordo for fourth, but went off on the Brenig stage and had to retire.

At the front, Ogier was happy to take a safe pace, going only eighth and sixth fastest on the two stages and allowing his lead over Meeke's Citroen to come down to 27.9s.

In the second Volkswagen, Mikkelsen maintained a strong pace in third, mindful of his last-stage elevation from second to first when teammate Ogier crashed in Catalunya last month.

Mikkelsen has brought the gap to Meeke in second down from 24.7s to 17.4s so far on Sunday, and said his plan for the final two stages was to keep the pressure on just in case.

With Tanak out, Sordo is up to fourth and has a 17s margin over the rally's closest remaining battle, in which Hayden Paddon is holding off local hero Elfyn Evans for fifth.

Paddon was the quickest of the pair on Sunday morning, inching the gap up to 7.1s. Mads Ostberg is a lonely seventh after his Saturday mistake, ahead of Stephane Lefebvre, Robert Kubica and Lorenzo Bertelli.

Jari-Matti Latvala, back under Rally2 again after a Friday crash and Saturday transmission failure, was quickest on both stages.

Weather conditions remain extremely challenging, and organizers have closed the upcoming Great Orme stage to spectators due to the very high winds in the area.

LEADING POSITIONS AFTER SS17:

Originally on Autosport.com