Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia secured M-Sport’s second FIA World Rally Championship victory of the year last week – powering their Ford Fiesta WRC to the top-step of the podium at Rally de Portugal.

Delivering a faultless drive, the four-time World Champion put in a sensational performance – limiting the time loss while opening the road before making his move with impressive speed through the cleaner conditions.

Securing five stage wins over the course of the weekend, Ogier took confidence from a good feeling with his Fiesta to secure victory with an advantage of 15.6 seconds.

Extending his lead in the championship, the Frenchman paid tribute to the team.

He said: “I’m delighted with this result and I really must thank the team for all of their hard work.

“I’ve always said that rallying is a team effort and the car has been perfect all weekend. Everyone is putting in the maximum and they really deserve this victory. I’m happy that we could give back from our side with a strong performance.”

Team-mate Ott Tänak had been the early leader before a brush with the scenery dropped him to fourth. But the Estonian bounced back to win the points-paying Power Stage and help the team extend their lead at the head of the manufacturers’ championship.

Elfyn Evans ensured that it was a successful weekend for M-Sport all round with all three cars finishing inside the top-six, and all-three cars scoring points in the Power Stage.

M-Sport’s Fiesta secured 10 stage victories and led the field for 14 of the 19 stages. With six events now under their belt, M-Sport are taking on the might of the manufacturer teams.

The Cumbrians remain the only team to have secured a podium at every event contested thus far – all three drivers contributing to the team’s nine top-three finishes.

Team Principal Malcolm Wilson was understandably delighted with the result and puts the team’s strong showing down to the commitment of his Cumbrian workforce.

“It’s been a fantastic weekend for the team,” said Wilson. “It’s great to secure the win, but it’s also great to see another strong performance from the entire team.

"All three of our crews have finished inside the top six, we’ve kept our unbeaten run of podiums intact, and we’ve also increased our lead at the head of both championships.

“You can imagine the team’s disappointment after losing the victory in Argentina, so to come here and take the win is fantastic.

“There’s been quite a bit of emotion in the service park, but we’ve got a great team of people and it’s because of their commitment that we’re in this position.

“There has been a lot of hard work over the past couple of weeks and I think we’ve taken a big step towards getting the Fiesta more to Sébastien’s liking. He and Julien felt really confident this weekend and they delivered an incredible drive to limit the time loss on Friday. From my point of view, that was their best drive of the year and where they made the difference.

“They have driven faultlessly all weekend and I know that this win means as much to them as it does to the team.

“We’ve still got some work to do, but we know that we can achieve success and we want more of it. The hard work doesn’t stop here, that is for sure.”

Closer to home, David Bogie took DMACK to a 1-2 finish at the RSAC Scottish Rally – continuing the Carlisle-based tyre manufacturer’s unbeaten run of seven consecutive victories in the British Rally Championship.

Piloting his CA1-Sport prepared Skoda Fabia R5, Bogie secured a popular home victory by 48.5 seconds after final-stage drama saw rally leader Fredrik Åhlin retire with a damaged radiator.

“We’ve been knocking on the door for the last three events and I’ve been desperate for a victory,” said Bogie. “It’s great to actually do it on my home rally.

“The stages were tricky and very rough in places, but the DMACK tyres have worked great all weekend. The last stage was all or nothing, we just pushed as much as possible.”

Second place went to Osian Pryce in a Ford Fiesta R5 with M-Sport’s Keith Cronin bringing his DMACK-clad Fiesta home in fourth to ensure that there were six DMACK drivers in the top-10.

DMACK also claimed victory in the Junior British Rally Championship as well as the National Rally Cup.

“Once again, it’s been another dominant event for DMACK competitors across all classes,” said DMACK managing director Dick Cormack.

“David really deserves this win and their CA1-Sport team have a third consecutive victory.

"But I’m also impressed with all of the DMACK competitors on what was a very tough event.”