Rallying: Estonian Tanak wins world championship

(Reuters) - Toyota's Ott Tanak became the first Estonian driver to win the world rally championship when he finished second in Spain on Sunday.

Tanak's success ended a 15 year period of domination by French drivers, with Sebastien Loeb winning nine in a row before Sebastien Ogier took another six successive titles.

Tanak scored five bonus points in the final Power Stage to extend his lead over Hyundai's Rally of Spain winner Thierry Neuville to 36 points with just one more round in Australia remaining worth a maximum 30.

Neuville beat Tanak by 17.2 seconds in the rally.

(Writing by Alan Baldwin; Editing by Alison Williams)