Clean dirt drive sees Ogier lead in Spain

SALOU, Spain - Frenchman Sebastien Ogier sped into the lead at the Rally of Spain on Friday, clinching the fourth super-special with a slick ride in his VW Polo.

The defending champion now enjoys an 8.4sec lead over Belgian Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) and a full 19.8sec on Norway's Mads Ostberg (Citroen).

His only remaining rival for the title, Finland's Jari-Matti Latvala (VW), was a disappointing seventh at +24.2sec.

FIRST DOWN TRACK

Ogier is leading Latvala by 27 points with just one race to go after this one. Latvala must finish above Ogier, taking at least two more points, to remaining in the hunt at the Rally of Great Britain.

Ogier, who was first down the dirt track, said later: "That was a great morning for me and I'm a little surprised to be in the lead but I gave it my all and made no mistake.

"When you lead off on the dirt you need to drive clean but loose," explained the Frenchman. "And if I can hold on until tonight that would be just great. Our disadvantage, of course, is counterbalanced by the dirt thrown up which impedes the driver behind you.”

Latvala hit a rock on the morning's first special and also suffered from the dust and was left deflated by the morning's competition. He said: "I drove poorly this morning. I was trying to save the tyres. My engine needs re-tuning and I need to get my confidence back.”

Leg 1 classification from the 2014Rally of Spain on Oct 23

1 Andreas Mikkelsen (Norway) Volkswagen 3min39.1
2 Sebastien Ogier (France) Volkswagen 01.8
3 Thierry Neuville (Belgium) Hyundai +2.9
4 Jari-Matti Latvala (Finland) Volkswagen +3.1
5 Daniel Sordo (Spain) Hyundai +3.6
6 Kris Meeke (Britain) Citroen +4.0
7 Mads Ostberg (Norway) Citroen +4.6
8 Mikko Hirvonen (Finland) Ford +5.9
9 Martin Prokop (Czech Republic) Ford +7.2
10 Hayden Paddon (New Zealand) Hyundai +8.4