Citroen driver Sebastien Ogier rode his luck to victory when his rivals failed to preserve their lead at the final day of the Rally Japan. Ogier's 2nd victory of the season came at his maiden competition in the Japanese rally streets and forced six-time champion Sebastien Loeb to wait until his home race in France before he win one more world rally title.Ogier, began the final day 5.4 seconds behind leader Petter Solberg, but went on to complete his second victory of the season after his team mate Sebastien Loeb and second-placed Mikko Hirvonen encountered problems with their cars.
Loeb finished fifth and leads Ogier by 43 points in the championship standings with three races remaining and he apparently have to wait until the Rallye de France to capture a seventh consecutive title on home soil.
The 26-year-old Ogier said he had expected a tough rally and was delighted with his 15.7 second victory in his first Japan race.
"It's amazing really and I'm really happy. Arriving here for my first time I knew it was a difficult rally because I don't like stages that are very rough. But quickly I found a good feeling and a good rhythm."
Battling under a flue, Citroen privateer Solberg began the day with a 3.7 second-lead over Hirvonen and was looking for his first world rally championship victory since 2005 before a damper issue and a steering problem removed all of his victorious chances away.
"I never thought it would go so well after the fever because I was terrible at the start of the rally. But I had a very good feeling. It's just unfortunate we had a problem with the car."
In Hirvonen's case, it was a gearbox problem which allowed Ogier to move ahead of him in the second place in the short Bisan stage.
Hirvonen eventually finished down in sixth place while his Ford team mate Jari-Matti Latvala claimed third.
Ex-Formula One driver Kimi Raikkonen's maiden Rally of Japan ended in an early retirement for one more time when his Citroen car slid off the road halfway through the Bisan stage.
