WRC Driver of the Year - 7th

After finishing in the points in every WRC event he entered and taking three podium results, this driver has arguably had his best WRC campaign to date

17 Dec 2015

WRC Driver of the Year 2015: 7th

7th - Mads OstbergAverage poll score out of ten: 5.7Team: Citroen Total Abu Dhabi World Rally TeamCar: Citroen DS3 WRCChampionship position: 4th Points: 116 pointsEvents: 12 (all WRC) Wins: 0Podiums: 3 (all WRC) Best finish: 2nd Stage wins: 8Power Stage wins: 0

Mads Ostberg has enjoyed arguably his most successful World Rally Championship campaign to date having ended the year as the best of the rest behind the Volkswagen trio, and was the only driver to finish in the points in every WRC event he entered.

Had it not been for an unfortunate and nasty crash during the recce for Rally Australia, which forced him to pull out of the event due to injury, Ostberg looked odds-on to take a clean sweep of points finishes in 2015 with his lowest finish of 10th in Sweden supplemented by a Power Stage victory.

Taking the fight to Volkswagen's Sebastien Ogier, Jari-Matti Latvala and Andreas Mikkelsen, the Norwegian driver notched up consecutive second places in Mexico and Argentina respectively but it was always going to be tough fight to beat the German manufacturer outright and a second career WRC event victory duly eluded him this season.

A third and final rostrum result came in Finland, while he narrowly missed out at Rally de Espana in fourth place. Fourth place would also represent his final position in the drivers' championship after finishing seventh in the season finale Wales Rally GB, matching his career best from 2012 while racing for Adapta.

Despite missing out on beating the Volkswagen drivers, Ostberg can be happy with his year as best of the rest as he hunts for a 2016 WRC race seat after Citroen pulled out its entry to focus on developing a new car ahead of the 2017 regulations revamp.

Mads Ostberg in the WRC Driver of the Year poll:Top 10 WRC Driver of the Year 2014: 9thTop 10 WRC Driver of the Year 2013: N/ATop 10 WRC Driver of the Year 2012: 2ndTop 10 WRC Driver of the Year 2011: 8th

About the vote:
Rather than repeat the Drivers' World Championship standings, the World Rally Driver of the Year poll asks readers to take into account factors such as machinery, performance relative to a team-mate, driving style, experience, injuries, progress and personality just as much as race results.

Over 3,000 votes were cast for the 2015 Crash.net WRC Driver of the Year poll, where viewers awarded each of this year's full-time participants a mark out of ten for an average rating.