France's Sebastien Ogier has claimed a second successive World Rally Championship title after the Volkswagen driver won the Rally of Spain.
France's Sebastien Ogier during the Rally of Spain. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Ogier, who had led for most of the four-day event, beat Finnish team mate Jari-Matti Latvala by 11.3 seconds to retain the title with one round remaining.
The Frenchman, who became the eighth man to win multiple championship titles and just the fifth to claim back-to-back titles, now has 242 points to Latvala's 211.
The 30-year-old's only difficult moment came when he was forced to drive 20km with a damaged tire but he held on to register the 23rd victory of his career.
The win was Volkswagen's 11th of the season and equalled the record set by Citroen in 2005 and 2008.
Ogier says it was his target at the start of the year to prove my title last year wasn't a one-off and he's so happy.
"It's been a fantastic weekend. It was tough, I was pushing so hard on day one and then it was a long two days on tarmac where I had to watch Jari-Matti flying."
"I had to be clever and watch him all the time. The car has been fantastic all weekend. Big thanks to Volkswagen for giving me such fantastic tools."
"That was the target of the season definitely - to prove that the first was no one-off. It's everything I wanted!"
New Zealand's Hayden Paddon finished ninth.
