The eight-time world champion scored this third win of a partial WRC campaign after seeing off Toyota team-mate and championship leader Kalle Rovanpera by 6.7s in a gruelling battle in Kenya.
While Ogier led the event from stage two, the Frenchman encountered a series of problems that threatened to derail his victory hopes.
Ogier enjoyed a near-perfect Friday, winning four of the six stages, but a loss of hybrid power cost him time. On Saturday, he suffered three punctures including a double front puncture that occurred when heavy rain created chaos during stage 13.
This, combined with a charging Rovanpera, reduced Ogier’s commanding 32.0s lead to 16.7s heading into Sunday.
Rovanpera applied even more pressure to halve the deficit again on Sunday’s first stage, before Ogier clipped a tree which removed the entire spoiler and tailgate of his GR Yaris.
Ogier was able to respond to win the next stage but in the penultimate stage his car began to overheat after ingesting Kenya’s famous fesh fesh sand. In the final stage a rock smashed his windscreen, but it failed to rob him of a hard-fought victory.
“I cannot rank it compared to others. For sure we have had some difficult weekends and still win, but definitely this one, the amount of things thrown at me, was probably the highest of any event,” said Ogier.
“Honestly, up to the last finish line I was still not sure it will be enough and even the stone in the last kilometres almost damaged my radiator. It ended up on my windscreen, but luckily it was the right the side so I could still see.
Source: Autosport