Mikkelsen wins Rally of Australia in Volkswagen’s last race

He finished sixth overall, after lying fifth during a long battle with Dani Sordo, despite two poor times on the long 50km Nambucca stages suffering firstly from dust and then handling difficulties after he had suggested a change in his set-up.

Mikkelsen held a two-second advantage over team-mate Ogier after two days of running down under, with Hyundai driver Paddon also in the lead fight in third.

He began the day in third place, 12 seconds shy of leader Andreas Mikkelsen, who encountered issues with his clutch on Saturday which allowed the rest of the field to catch up.

“This is a flawless end to the season”, said Mikkelsen.

“Nothing is really clear regarding the termination of the contract with Volkswagen, but we are talking to several teams about next year and I am confident we will see Andreas with a top team”, he said.

“This team deserves it, as well as us”, said the Skoda driver.

Following the team’s 43rd win from 52 rallies, Volkswagen Motorsport won its fourth consecutive manufacturers’ championship this year, but the victory was bitter-sweet for the German marque’s racers, who now look to an unknown future next year without a drive.

There are some really mixed emotions sitting here.

Drivers tackle four tests before the rally-closing Power Stage, with bonus points for the fastest three drivers. I speak for the whole team when saying that it has been a pleasure to compete with them and they will be sorely missed. “But I’m also sad to see it all disappear”.

“That’s what I tried to remember at the start [of the final stage], just enjoy this one, it’s the last one”, he said.

With 36 WRC cars ahead of the 27 ARC entries on each stage, the course will take a pounding from the sheer volume of cars. Hayden Paddon-John Kennard (NZL/Hyundai i20) 23.7, 5. “I hope, when I go back to Europe, very quickly I can work on this new project because there are only a couple of weeks before Monte Carlo”. Still, during later stages, he told WRC commentators that he felt more confident in his vehicle during this rally than he’d been in a long, long time. “It’s been a good season, we have led every rally we have contested in WRC2”.

Paddon is an ambassador for Rally New Zealand, and has grown in popularity in recent years.

“The final rally with Volkswagen – that sounds insane”, he said. Latvala hit a bridge on the opening stage and losing a significant amount of time after that crash broke his rear suspension.