In the lead up to Rally Germany the Tuthill Porsche 911 RGT caught our eye. So this video recap, featuring words from the car’s builder and driver, Richard Tuthill, was something we were very keen to see. We think you might like it too.
An RGT Cup? With a fleet of 911 RGTs competing? Yeah, that would be pretty cool.
WRC cars in aggressive tarmac trim, the stunning beauty of the Moselle Valley, as far as world class rallying goes, it doesn’t get much better than this.
So strap yourself in and enjoy reliving Thierry Neuville’s maiden WRC victory. There’s some awesome photos in our latest rally installment; we hope you’ll like them.
Here’s around four and a half minutes of world class rally action recorded during the weekend’s Rally Germany. The event saw Thierry Neuville notch his first win for himself and his Hyundai team.
We’ll have a photo gallery from the event online in the next few days, until then you ca enjoy this footage from Rallymedia.
Thierry Neuville has outlasted his competitors at Rally Germany to register his first WRC win and, of course, the first rally victory for Hyundai Motorsport as well. The 26-year-old Belgian was the fourth driver to take the lead on the tarmac roads of the Moselle wine region and the only one not to crash out of contention.
Defending world champion Sebastien Ogier was the first to retire when he careered through a barrier at high speed early in Saturday. He and co-driver Julien Ingrassia were very lucky to escape with no injury.
Ogier’s demise handed a relatively comfortable lead to Jari-Matti Latavala who was chasing his first WRC victory on tarmac. Alas on Sunday morning the Finn lost control on the opening stage and sent his car deep into picturesque vineyards. Kris Meeke was the next to take the lead hoping to post a best possible result for Citroën, but he too crashed out shortly after Latvala.
And so Neuville was the last man standing as it were. Rounding out a great rally for Hyundai was the fact Dani Sordo finished in P2, 40.7 seconds behind his team leader. A 1–2 result is an oustanding way for the Korean manufacturer to post its first WRC victory.
Latvala will rue his missed opportunity to close the gap on Ogier in the championship title race. He is still 44 points behind Ogier but could have cut that gap to as few as 16 points with the win and three bonus points.
None of that will concern Neuville and a beaming Nicloas Gilsoul who will be celebrating their maiden WRC win long into the night.
UPDATE: Hyundai’s official reaction to the win has been added below along with a Day 3 highlights video.
Citroën pairing Dani Sordo and Carlos del Barrio have shown great personal character to claim their maiden WRC victory. The Spanish duo have been dropped for next month’s Rally Australia, but fought out a gripping battle with Ford’s Thierry Neuville to win Rally Germany.
In truth the win came about because both Volkswagen’s crashed out of contention while leading the rally; Sebastien Ogier on Day 1, followed by Jar-Matti Latvala on Day 2. Neuville inherited the lead from Latvala but was unable to withstand the strong pace shown from Sordo all weekend, who took the lead late on Day 3.
Able to maintain the lead in the final day Sordo was elated with his first WRC win. “It’s fantastic to claim my first win after such a close fight,†he said. “We had no choice but to keep applying the pressure and in the end, Thierry was forced into a mistake. We didn’t get off to a particularly good start, but we all worked together to improve. We did the hardest part yesterday, but we had to maintain our form today and that’s exactly what we did. Now that I have my first win, I want some more!â€
Ogier was able to claim the three points on offer in the power stage, so it wasn’t a total loss for him and Volkswagen. Although, Citroën managed to cut 29 points out of Volkswagen’s championship lead.
The WRC entourage hits our shores next month for Rally Australia (12–15 September).
This weekend’s Rally Germany was supposed to be Sebastien Ogier’s crowning glory. If things went his way he could have secured the 2013 World Rally Championship. At its home event, it would have been a perfect way for Volkswagen to announce its arrival on the world rally stage. Alas, as Ogier himself said, “Shit happens.”
Ogier crashed out on Day 1 with damaged suspension. He’ll now have to wait to secure his maiden world title. Teammate Jari-Matti Latvala now leads the charge in Germany, with Ford driver Thierry Neuville close behind.
Being a tarmac event, Rally Germany is one of our favourites. On asphalt the WRC cars look their best, with bigger wheels and lowered suspension.
For hot hatch fans it doesn’t get much better. That’s why we’ve included a couple of videos from Volkswagen and Citroën for you after the break.