World Rally champion Sebastien Ogier has laid down the challenge to his rivals after taking maximum points in the power stage of Rally Sardinia last week.

Ogier has completely dominated the live televised stages throughout this year's championship - claiming a whopping 16 points of the maximum 18 on offer.

His most recent success came after he over-shot a corner and had to reverse back to get around a sharp right hand turn.

"I think I set a new record, and it is going to be hard to beat this one - making the Power Stage win using the reverse. The other guys can try to beat it!" said Ogier who admitted the fastest time came as a surprise.

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"The conditions were extremely difficult with the ruts and when I arrived I could not make the car turn. I was just a passenger. Luckily I managed to engage reverse very quickly so I did not lose so much time, maybe two seconds. It is not the kind of power stage that I love the most."

Despite not winning a round since Sweden in February, the French Volkswagen driver leads the world championship by 64 points from Hyundai's Dani Sordo.

Kiwi Hayden Paddon sits in fifth place - 11 points adrift of teammate Sordo.