This time last week, Sébastien Ogier was well on his way to maximum Super Sunday points at Rally Chile, with Toyota team-mate Kalle Rovanperä comfortably on course for the rally win.
Both, however, fancied a crack at the powerstage and for the very same reason: to help Toyota score as many points as possible in the manufacturers’ championship.
And that’s exactly what they did – the two GR Yaris Rally1s were split by just 0.1 seconds in Ogier’s favor.
Ogier pipped his team-mate to five powerstage points amid Chile's gloom
It was a breathless finish to a rally that otherwise looked settled, and got my mind wandering.
Has there ever been a powerstage as close as that?
It turns out yes, there has. And plenty of them, at that!
Just to get you warmed up, here’s an early stat: an incredible 61 powerstages have been decided by less than a second – equating to just over a third of all those run.
Ready to read on? Marvelous.
As well as Rally Chile 2024, and in no particular order, these are the World Rally Championship powerstages to be decided by 0.1s or less:
Finland 2014
Ogier closed in on Latvala with powerstage victory, but it wasn't enough to win the rally
In a season where Jari-Matti Latvala came closest to lifting the drivers’ title, the Finn was comfortably ahead of his Volkswagen team-mate and title rival Sébastien Ogier at his home event: Rally Finland.
That was until Saturday afternoon, where a binding brake cost him close to half a minute and suddenly vaulted Ogier back into play.
But channeling Finnish sisu, Latvala held off his world champion stablemate to win the rally by 3.6s. Ogier tried his absolute best though, beating Latvala to the powerstage victory (and the extra point) by just 0.1s.
México 2019
Success in México continued strong start to Ogier's Citroën return
The scene of another Ogier powerstage win (spoiler alert: something of a theme in this list), México 2019 is one of the few examples where the winner of such a tight powerstage also won the rally.
History tells us that Ogier’s move back to Citroën in 2019 was an ill-fated one, but at the top of the year it was looking like Ogier was on for yet another world title.
Following an epic victory against Thierry Neuville in Monte Carlo (claimed by just 2.2s), Ogier won again in México to lead the title race. His powerstage success by 0.1s was over Kris Meeke’s Toyota, with Neuville coming just 0.6s short with the third fastest time.
Portugal 2024
Powerstage win contributed to Neuville's 11-point Sunday haul in Portugal
In the era where Super Sunday points are also up for grabs on the final day, Portugal’s powerstage in 2024 was of great significance.
Struggling as the first car on the road, Neuville did well to work his way up to third overall – but was engaged in a fierce scrap with Hyundai team-mate Ott Tänak (who was second overall) for maximum Sunday points.
Tänak got the better of Neuville by 2.4s, but Neuville took the powerstage by a tenth – meaning both drivers scored 11 bonus points.
Sweden 2024
Rovanperä flew to powerstage win as slight mistake proved costly for team-mate Evans
Portugal was not the first powerstage of 2024 to be settled by just a tenth of a second, though.
Three months earlier in the frozen forests of Sweden, Toyota duo Kalle Rovanperä and Elfyn Evans could only be split by a tenth on the tricky Umeå powerstage.
It was an incredibly close stage across the board, with Neuville (0.2s) and Tänak (0.7s) both completing within a second of the fastest time.
Germany 2018
Another powerstage maximum helped Ogier towards sixth consecutive drivers' title
While Sébastien Loeb made Rally Germany his own with an unprecedented nine wins in 10 years, in later years it was Tänak who was king.
2018 was the second of three consecutive victories for the Estonian in Bostalsee, but the Toyota driver didn’t manage a powerstage win.
Instead he fell 0.1s short of toppling M-Sport’s Ogier, who finished the rally down in fourth overall.
Australia 2017
No rally win, but more powerstage success for Ogier
You guessed it: another Ogier powerstage win.
This time, we’re looking at the final round of the 2017 season in Australia. Ogier had already claimed the drivers’ title at the previous round in Wales, and M-Sport had also bagged the manufacturers’, so Australia was mainly a glory run for all concerned.
Hyundai’s Neuville proved a point by winning the event from Ogier’s team-mate Tänak, but the Fiestas ruled the powerstage as Ogier beat Tänak by a tenth.
Australia 2018
Ogier sealed 2018 title in Australia, where he took yet another powerstage win
Remarkably, Rally Australia’s powerstage produced a result decided by just a single tenth of a second a year later, in 2018, too.
This was the scene of Latvala’s final victory in the WRC, but again it was Ogier who secured all five bonus points from the powerstage.
On this occasion he denied Latvala’s Toyota team-mate Esapekka Lappi who finished fourth overall, one spot ahead of Ogier.
Poland 2015
Ogier edged rising star Tänak to three bonus points in Poland, 2015
Just as he had the previous year, Volkswagen’s Andreas Mikkelsen proved a real test for team-mate Ogier in Poland.
But it was Ogier who got the job done, albeit by just 11.9s, in the #1 Polo R WRC.
The Frenchman treated himself to maximum (at this time, three) powerstage points as well, seeing off M-Sport’s Tänak – who completed the podium in what was a breakthrough event for him at the time – by just 0.1s.
Argentina 2019
Third on the rally, but first on the powerstage for Citroën-mounted Ogier
Rally Argentina has produced some of the most epic WRC finishes in modern memory – particularly during the mid-to-late 2010s.
That wasn’t the case in 2019 as Neuville comfortably led home Hyundai team-mate Mikkelsen with Ogier similarly secure in third place.
But the El Cóndor powerstage was a corker. After a shave over 13 minutes of committed driving, just 0.1s split the fastest two drivers. Ogier got the job done in his C3 over Latvala’s Yaris.
Acropolis 2011
Young Ogier got one over illustrious team-mate Loeb
Ogier hasn’t had to prove many points throughout his career, but after crashing while leading at the previous round in Argentina, Acropolis 2011 was an important weekend for Citroën’s young charger.
Victory after a close weekend-long fight with fellow title challengers Loeb and Mikko Hirvonen was the perfect way to respond.
And despite not even a tenth of a second separating him and Loeb on the short 2.5-mile powerstage, Ogier would be in for maximum points as his time was quicker than Loeb’s to the nearest hundredth.
Monte 2020
A tiny margin sealed a maximum points haul for Neuville on the 2020 season-opener
But nine years later, and now a six-time champion of the world, Ogier would lose out in the reverse scenario.
The first WRC rally of the 2020s was an epic, as Toyota new boys Ogier and Elfyn Evans slugged it out with Hyundai long-termer Neuville.
All three took turns in the lead, but in the end Neuville came good to win the rally by 12.6s. He rubbed extra salt into Ogier’s wounds by tying to the nearest tenth with him on the powerstage, but officially coming out on top by 0.016s.
Jordan 2011
Jordan produced incredibly tight finishes to the powerstage and rally overall
The event that, until Sardinia this year, stood alone as the closest WRC finish ever also finds itself joint top as the closest powerstage finish, too.
Ogier’s comeback run on the last-ever stage Jordan held in the WRC is the stuff of legend – overturning a 0.5s deficit to Latvala to steal the rally win by just 0.2s.
But what’s less remembered is the fact Ogier also won the powerstage – and by the smallest possible margin of 0.0s.
It was Latvala’s Ford team-mate Hirvonen who tied with Ogier but lost out when hundredths were considered.
Amazingly, despite only losing 0.7s to the fastest time Latvala was only fourth fastest (behind Loeb) and therefore didn’t score any powerstage points either.
