17 Apr 2011

Ogier pips Latvala to Jordan win in closest ever finish

8:41 am on 17 April 2011

Frenchman Sebastien Ogier recorded the narrowest win in a world championship rally when he triumphed over Finland's Jari-Matti Latvala by just 0.2 of a second in the shortened Rally of Jordan.

Ford's Latvala trailed by 33.1 seconds going into the final stages and mounted a spectacular comeback to take the lead with one stage remaining, but the plucky Frenchman saved his best to the very end to claim his second consecutive victory.

Ogier's narrow victory eclipsed Marcus Gronholm's 0.3 second victory over seven-times world champion Sebastien Loeb at the 2007 Rally of New Zealand.

Championship leader Loeb started the day second but came home in third 27.7 seconds adrift with Finland's Mikko Hirvonen in fourth, over 2-1/2 minutes off Ogier's pace.

Frenchman Loeb leads from Hirvonen by two points while Ogier is third and Latvala fourth.