Sebastien Ogier’s win on this weekend’s Vodafone Rallye de Portugal is notable for several reasons. While it is his second of the 2017 FIA World Rally Championship, and consolidates his lead in the title race, in doing so, he matches the record of Rally Portugal wins previously held by ‘Flying Finn’ Marku Alen.
Alen’s range of five wins began in 1975 and he took his fifth in 1987, 12 years later and after 13 editions. Ogier, on the other hand, took his first win in 2010 and his fifth, this year, 2017. His achievement spanned seven years and eight editions of the rally.
Alen took four of his five wins in Fiats – a 124 Abarth in 1975, a 131 in 1977, ’78 and ’81 - and a Lancia Delta Integrale in 1987. Ogier, on the other hand, took his first two wins, in 2010 and 2011, at the wheel of a Citroen, his next two – 2013 and ’14 – in a Volkswagen and his latest in a Ford Fiesta.
What is also interesting is that Alen took his fifth win on the 20th anniversary of the rally’s first event and Ogier claimed his fifth on the rally’s 50th anniversary.