From the start of the rally - which was run on a shortened itinerary after fears about weather conditions - Ogier was never headed, but the Frenchman faced strong opposition on both Friday and Saturday. Ogier kept his cool though and stroked his Volkswagen Polo R WRC home to win by 29.8 seconds. His first challenge came from Citroen's Kris Meeke, who was closing in until striking a rock buried in the road for a second consecutive rally, forcing him to retire. Meeke's demise promoted Paddon to second and after a steady start on Friday, the Kiwi took up the mantle on Saturday to eat into Ogier's lead. On his first outing in Hyundai's New Generation i20 WRC, Paddon took 23s out of Ogier on...
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