WRC: Mikkelsen wins on VW's farewell

Andreas Mikkelsen held his nerve to win Rally Australia and claim victory on Volkswagen's World Rally Championship farewell.

The Norwegian led the final round of the 2016 WRC season throughout, but came under increasing pressure from teammate Sebastien Ogier, with Hyundai's Hayden Paddon emerging as a threat as well.

Mikkelsen started the final morning with just a two-second advantage over Ogier but looked up for the challenge of earning the win the hard way even before his pursuers made crucial errors.

Having bumped his lead up to 2.6s on Sunday's first stage, Mikkelsen watched it soar to more than 20s when Ogier spun on SS20 and Paddon hit a bank and shredded his left-rear tire. He topped SS21 to end the Sunday morning loop firmly in command, then drove sensibly on the two stages that ended the rally to win by 14.9s.

"It's been such a perfect end to the season," he said. "I had nothing to lose.

"We challenged the four-time champion and we won fair and square in the same road conditions. It's just sad to see this team and the car come to an end. I will miss them."

While powerstage winner Ogier's error was not severe enough to do any damage to his race result, Paddon's dropped him from third – where he was starting to lose touch with the VWs – to fifth behind his two Hyundai teammates. He was able to take fourth back from Dani Sordo by 1.6 seconds before the end of the rally, but Thierry Neuville comfortably held third.

That, plus two points for second on the powerstage, enabled the Belgian to clinch second in the drivers' championship – without Paddon's mistake elevating Neuville, Mikkelsen may have snatched the runner-up position.

Behind the trio of Hyundais Mads Ostberg was a lonely sixth for the M-Sport team, which ended the rally with one Fiesta running after Eric Camilli rolled out of seventh on the final morning.

The Frenchman's mistake promoted Ott Tanak to seventh in M-Sport's customer Fiesta run by the D-MACK team. It also allowed Skoda's Esapekka Lappi to clinch the WRC2 title with a top-eight finish on a rally he absolutely dominated his class in, finishing more than four and a half minutes clear.

The third VW of Jari-Matti Latvala made it back to ninth after his victory bid ended on the opening morning. Latvala hit a bridge on the first stage and after damaging his suspension had been clawing back time and positions since.

LEADING POSITIONS:

DRIVERS' STANDINGS:

Originally on Autosport.com