Motorsport: Ogier triumphs in WRC shootout

Ford’s Sebastien Ogier secured his sixth world championship in a three-way fight against Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville and Toyota’s Ott Tanak.

Ogier entered the weekend in Coffs Harbour with a three-point advantage over Neuville with Tanak needing to win and Ogier suffer misfortune to claim his maiden world title. Tanak was on course to win the rally entering the final day only to crash out, while Neuville appeared to crack under the pressure, suffering multiple incidents before also crashing out on the last morning.

Ogier stayed out of trouble and finished in fifth place to secure his second world title with the Ford M-Sport team. It was a remarkable season for Ogier, overcoming a 23-point deficit to Neuville with just two rounds to run.

“It’s been an incredible season and the fight has been so close,” Ogier said.

“Not so long ago we thought it was going to be difficult to take the title again, but we never gave up. We gave it everything and had such an amazing team around us. I am so proud of all of them and of course I want to thank [M-Sport team boss] Malcolm [Wilson] for another amazing job. What we achieved together over the past two years has been really special, and I am very proud of that.”

While Tanak crashed out of the lead and missed the drivers’ title there was still good news for Toyota. Jari-Matti Latvala won the rally and in doing so helped Toyota secure the manufacturers’ championship, in just the Japanese team’s second season back in top-line rallying.

Toyota boss Akio Toyoda praised the efforts of the team led by four-time WRC champion Tommi Makinen to turn the Yaris into such a competitive rally car so quickly.

“I feel so grateful, as team chairman, that we could get such a great result in the second year of our challenge after returning to the WRC following 18 years away,” Toyoda said.

“I am so grateful to Tommi, who has kept strengthening the Yaris WRC to win this title, all the team members who supported Tommi, and the six drivers and co-drivers who kept driving the Yaris towards our goal. Thank you very much, and huge congratulations!”

ARC: Evans takes title despite crash

Eli Evans overcame a crash on the opening day of the Coffs Harbour rally to secure his fourth Australian Rally Championship.

Evans had a hard landing on the first day of competition and damaged his Skoda Fabia R5, which opened the window for Toyota’s Harry Bates and fellow Skoda driver Steve Glenney to try and steal the title in the final round.

However, while Bates surged to an early advantage he was knocked out of contention by an engine failure. Glenney went on to win the rally but Evans recovered to fifth place, which was enough to secure the title.

“This one had more twists and turns and I didn’t know who was going to win it even though I had a good points lead coming into this event,” Evans said.

“It was a strange year but between the top three teams, it was awesome, we pushed each other to the limit all year and I’m pleased that we managed to hang on for the Australian Rally Championship.”

Subaru factory driver Molly Taylor was an outsider for the title but her rally ended with a heavy crash on the first day in the Coffs Harbour forests. Taylor and co-driver Malcolm Read made head-on contact with a hay bale but escaped serious injury.

WEC: Toyota survives Shanghai storm

Heavy rain couldn’t stop Toyota from taking another one-two finish in the latest round of the World Endurance Championship in Shanghai, China.

It was #7 entry of Mike Conway, Jose Maria Lopez and Kamui Kobayashi that crossed the line first ahead of the #8 driven by Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima.

Third place when to the privateer SMP Racing entry shared by Jenson Button, Mikhail Aleshin and Vitaly Petrov.

Aston Martin claimed the first victory for its new Vantage GTE racer, with Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen scoring GTE-Pro honours and an impressive seventh outright.

Australian Matt Campbell claimed the GTE-Am class victory in the Porsche 911 RSR he shares with Christian Reid and Julien Andlauer. However, it was a disappointing weekend for the Proton Dempsey Racing team after it was stripped of all of its championship points following a technical breach.

The WEC now takes a break until March 2019, when it hosts a 1000-mile race at Sebring, Florida.

MotoGP: Dovizioso takes Valencia finale

Entertaining and unpredictable to the end, MotoGP signed off the 2018 season in typical exciting fashion.

At the end of wet race in Valencia that saw 10 riders fail to make the finish, including world champion Marc Marquez, it was Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso who emerged victorious.

But it was far from easy with the Italian having to overcome not only the conditions but an in-form Alex Rins aboard his Suzuki. The pair swapped the lead during the race, both before and after a red-flag stoppage due to the conditions.

Pol Espargaro claimed third place on his KTM, which was a maiden podium for both the Spanish rider and the Austrian team.

Australia’s Jack Miller was one of the riders that failed to finish after falling off his Ducati in the tricky conditions.

Macau GP: Horrific crash mars blue-ribbon race

German Sophia Florsch has survived a sickening crash at the season-ending Macau Grand Prix for Formula Three cars.

Florsch’s car was launched into the air and flew over the crash barriers and landed in an area for marshalls and photographers. She was diagnosed with a spinal fracture but has already tweeted from the hospital that she “”wanted to let everybody know that I am fine but will be going into surgery” on Monday.

The crash overshadowed what is meant to be the prestigious finale for the Formula One feeder category.

The race was won for the second year in a row by Red Bull protege Dan Ticktum while European F3 champion, Mick Schumacher, was fifth.