Six-time World Rally Champion Sebastien Ogier has been crowned the Rally Driver of the Year for the sixth time in a row at this year’s Autosport Awards.
Ogier signed off his time with the Cumbria’s M-Sport World Rally team by taking his second title with the squad, and will move to Citroen for 2019.
His latest title was one of his most challenging with Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville and Ott Tanak from Toyota proving to be stern opposition throughout the year.
Chairman of Motorsport UK Dave Richards, who oversaw Subaru’s World Rally success with Colin McRae, presented the award to Ogier.
“It was [an epic year],” said Ogier. “I really had the chance to work with a fantastic human in Malcolm [Wilson], I never had a better boss in my career. This will stay in my heart forever.”
The Frenchman also discussed how he had to play it “clever” in Rally Australia to take his crown.
Ogier’s competition for the award this year included his two title rivals this year, World Rally legend Carlos Sainz, Toyota’s Jari-Matti Latvala and WRC2 champion Jan Kopecky.
The last driver to win the award before Ogier’s clean sweep was Sebastien Loeb back in 2012.
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