Hat-trick of stage wins for Ogier in Spain

Newly-crowned world champion Sebastien Ogier took control of the Rally of Spain on Friday with a hat-trick of stage wins on day one of the race. The Frenchman leads Finnish Volkswagen teammate Jari-Matti Latvala by nearly nine seconds with Spaniard Dani Sordo 12.6 seconds back in third. Ogier, who sealed his maiden world title last time out in Strasbourg, showed no signs of easing off the gas in the dark of Catalonia as he led home Sordo and Latvala respectively in the first two stages. Latvala then moved up into second for the final stage of the day with Norway's Andreas Mikkelsen taking third. "That was okay, but it's not easy to start in the dark,” Ogier told WRC.com “I haven’t got the confidence to push hard yet, it'll take me a bit to adapt to the set-up, but okay, no mistakes.” However, it was a frustrating day for Belgian Thierry Neuville, who currently lies second in the championship standings, but is 19.1 seconds behind Ogier. "It’s not working at all. I struggled in the dark and struggled with the settings. I couldn’t do more,” he said. Source: AFP