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Citroen Volkswagen WRC

Sebastien Ogier wins 2013 Rallye de France-Alsace

2013 Rallye de France-Alsace

Sebastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia have capped off their world championship by coming from behind to claim victory in Rallye de France-Alsace.

After the euphoria of the opening day when their championship was finally secured in the Power Stage the leading duo made a poor start to the rally proper. They ended Day 2 down in fifth place and well off the pace.

Ford driver Thierry Neuville was looking good thanks to a wise tyre choice which allowed him to end the going fastest in all the afternoon stages. An unfortunate puncture on Day 3 ended Neuville’s hopes of a maiden victory. He has shown much promise in 2013 and his career is sure to reach greater heights in the coming years.

Dani Sordo was again showing Citroën he has the pace on tarmac and inherited the lead from Neuville, but by the day’s end Volkswagen’s Jari-Matti Latvala had carved out a narrow edge to head the field into the final day.

Day 4 shaped as a classic with the first four drivers—Latvala, Sordo, Ogier and Loeb—separated by just five seconds. In wet and muddy conditions Ogier’s class shone through. He ended the opening stage of the day with a seven second lead over Sordo, with Latvala a further six seconds behind the Citroën driver.

Sadly, for all-time greats and nine time world champions, Sebastien Loeb and Daniel Elena, their rally ended after Loeb lost control on a fast right hander, spearing off the road and into the bushes where the car came to rest on its roof. Thankfully both men were okay, but it was an unfortunate end to rallying’s best ever career.

Citroën had adorned their car with a great looking black and gold livery with the pair’s impressive statistics featured all over the car. While they did move their all-time tally of stage wins from 896 to 900, there were no additions to their 116 podiums or 78 rally victories. Still, it’s an amazing record, which is sure to remain unmatched.

Ogier was never really troubled for the remainder of the day and he took victory by 12.2 seconds from Dani Sordo. Jari-Matti Latvala was third, 19.5 seconds behind his teammate.

There’s nice symmetry in Ogier being crowned world champion in his home country as the title finally escapes Loeb’s clutches. The Alsace region is where Loeb grew up and while he’ll be disappointed to have ended his career upside down the crowd support he has enjoyed this rally will stay with him for years to come.

With two more events left on the 2013 calendar Volkswagen enjoys an 80 point lead over Citroën in the manufacturers’ championship and will be hoping it can wrap that title up at the next event in Spain later this month.

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2013 Frankfurt Motor Show in pictures

2013 Frankfurt Motor Show

The lights have been turned off at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show and the mammoth task of dismantling the huge displays has begun. To recap what you may have missed here’s a selection of 120+ pics reminding you what was on show.

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Citroen Volkswagen WRC

Sebastien Ogier wins 2013 Rally Australia

Volkswagen Polo R WRC, 2013 Rally Australia

Volkswagen ace Sebastien Ogier enjoyed a commanding weekend around Coffs Harbour winning 19 of 22 stages on his way to a dominant Rally Australia victory. It’s his sixth win of the year and came within a whisker of confirming his maiden world championship.

In order for Ogier to claim the title in Australia he needed to finish nine points or more ahead of Ford’s Thierry Neuville. And for much of the event, with Neuville in third place out of Mikko Hirvonen’s reach in second place, the stars seemed aligned for Ogier.

However, Hirvonen’s Citroën suffered a puncture on the final stage and cost him enough time to promote Neuville into second place. It was rotten luck for Hirvonen who has endured a difficult year. He is a three-time winner of Rally Australia and was enjoying a good rally and looked set for a comfortable second place.

The mathematical chance for Neuville to upset Ogier now hangs on by a single point, although most now expect Ogier will have the luxury of confirming his world title in front of his home crowd in next month’s Rally de France-Alsace.

Elsewhere in the field Jari-Matti Latvala suffered a puncture to his Polo R WRC on the opening day which put him out of contention. He was able to earn some decent points for Volkswagen in the manufacturers’ championship, though, coming home in fourth place. Young Volkswagen driver Andreas Mikkelsen put his name in the spotlight ending Day 1 in the lead of the event. His inexperience showed and he finished the race in sixth place.

For Citroën it had subbed out Rally Germany winner Dani Sordo for Kris Meeke. In the early stages Meeke was repaying that faith on the difficult Australian gravel running well and looking secure in third place. On Day 2 a small mistake sent Meeke down a steep embankment and his car rolled several times. The Citroën crew did an amazing job to rebuild the car overnight and Meeke was able to rejoin the rally on the final day. Unfortunately he made another error and ripped the right rear suspension from his car. The 34-year-old Irishman cut a forlorn figure at rally’s end.

A quick shout out too for Coffs Harbour local Nathan Quinn who was competing in a Motorsport Italia MINI JCW WRC and brought it home in one piece in eighth place collecting four world championship points.

Photos, videos and official press statements from both Volkswagen and Citröen are all yours after the break.

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Citroen WRC

Dani Sordo wins 2013 Rally Germany

Dani Sordo wins 2013 Rally Germany

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!”

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).

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Citroen Volkswagen WRC

“Shit happens!”

Sebastien Ogier crashes out of 2013 Rally Germany

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.

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Citroen WRC

Rally Australia: Out Dani Sordo, in Kris Meeke

Kris Meeke, Citroen WRT

In a cruel irony former MINI WRC driver Dani Sordo has been cast aside by the Citroën World Rally Team and will be replaced by former MINI WRC driver Kris Meeke.

Meeke and co-driver Chris Patterson will step into Sordo’s car for Rally Australia (13–15 September). An official Citroën WRT statement suggests that Dani can now, “focus on finding form in a less pressurised environment.” Ouch, that’s cutting!

And it gets worse for Sordo, with the team’s appraisal of his Rally Finland performance: “The fastest rally on the calendar proved tricky for Dani Sordo, who was not able to find the right rhythm to make it into the leading places. Sorely lacking in confidence on gravel, the Spanish driver has agreed with Citroën Racing that he will sit out the next round in order to try and take a step back and find some form on the surface away from pressure.”

But it’s all good news for Meeke, who was the first of the MINI drivers to lose his seat, while Sordo carried on until MINI finally pulled the plug. It’s not a bad return for Meeke, who wrote off his Citroën DS3 WRC in his first outing for the team at Rally Finland. He was filling in for regular driver Khalid Al-Qassimi.

“We are really very happy that Citroën has shown faith in us again after our performance at Rally Finland,” Meeke said. “For us, this is an incredible opportunity to take part in the rally as part of the Citroën Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team alongside Mikko and Jarmo, and we are determined to give our best.”

Meeke says he’s comfortable in his new team and is looking ahead to the future, he reveals more in an interview with Red Bull.

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Citroen WRC

If we can’t beat them, rejoin us

Sebastien Loeb wins 2013 Rally Argentina

As it stands Sebastien Loeb has one more WRC rally left in his record-breaking career. That’s scheduled to be his home event, Rallye de France-Alsace, in early October. However, Citroën’s current parlous performance against the emerging dominance of Volkswagen has forced Citroën Racing boss, Yves Matton, to think twice about letting Loeb go so easily.

With half of the WRC season behind us Loeb has proven to be the only person capable of defeating Volkswagen, as his victories in Monte Carlo and Argentina prove. He finished second to The Other Sebastienâ„¢ in Sweden and we wouldn’t mind betting that Ogier holds that victory, his first for Volkswagen, in high regard because of Loeb’s participation.

“I haven’t spoken to him yet, but for sure at the half of the season I will speak again with Sebastien to see if he has the motivation to do maybe one or two rallies more,” said Matton.

“It depends a lot on what we [Citroen] will do in the future, if we will be involved in the touring cars or not. In the following days or weeks then we will have an answer and we will see with Seb what we can do.”

We now know that Citroën Racing has been confirmed as a starter in the 2014 World Touring Car Championship, with Sebastien Loeb in the role of poster boy and lead driver. That really only leaves this year for Loeb to mount any challenge against Volkswagen in the WRC.

And what of Mikko Hirvonen, the supposed number one for Citroën this year? He’d better pull his finger out, and fast.

[Source: wrc.com]

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Citroen WRC

Robert Kubica wins again in WRC2

Robert Kubica, Citroen DS3 RRC

The popular former F1 driver Robert Kubica has continued his rise in the rallying community by taking out the WRC2 category at Rally d’Italia. He finished ninth outright in his Citroën DS3 RRC and was over four minutes ahead of his nearest WRC2 competitor.

It’s Kubica’s second victory in WRC2 and backs up his win at the Acropolis Rally earlier this month. Kubica set the early pace but lost some time on the first day after a minor off saw him damage the rear of his car. He soon put things right again, re-establishing his control before recording a comfortable victory.

“Obviously, I’m pleased to win again at an event that is completely different to Greece,” said Kubica. “Every day I spend in the DS3 RRC gives me a bit more experience. I feel good about my driving, but also about my understanding of the road surface and the reactions of the car.

“It wasn’t easy all the time, as we did have a few problems that are specific to gravel rallies, such as the dust. It was a good learning experience to drive in conditions like these, but I didn’t enjoy it at all because of the danger involved.”

The 28-year-old Pole sits fourth in the WRC2 championship, after competing in only three out of seven events. If he continues the rapid rate of improvement shown to date he may well give the front runners a shake for the title. Perhaps Robert’s longer-term future may lie in the gravel and not on super smooth F1 circuits?

[Source: Citroën WRC]

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Citroen WRC

Robert Kubica wins first WRC2 event

Robert Kubica wins WRC2 Acropolis Rally

A quick shout out to Robert Kubica who won the WRC2 category at the Acropolis Rally on the weekend. It’s just his second WRC2 start, which is for near-production spec 4WD showroom cars.

Driving a Ctiroën DS3 RRC the 28-year-old Pole took the rally lead on the opening stage and never looked back, dominating throughout the event and easing himself to a win of almost 90 seconds.

“Yes, it’s a great day for me”, Kubica said after his win. “For sure, it has been a very, very difficult weekend. I think Acropolis is an extremely tough rally, especially for someone like me who has twenty years’ experience of racing on a circuit! It’s the total opposite of what I have been used to.

“There are many things for me to learn still, but it has been a great learning experience and a very productive weekend. I’m now looking forward to Rally Sardegna, where I can put what I have learned this weekend to good use.”

[Source: Citroën WRC]

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Citroen WRC

Sebastien Loeb wins 2013 Rally Argentina

Sebastien Loeb wins 2013 Rally Argentina

Sebastien Loeb has popped back into his Citroën WRC overalls to put that Ogier upstart at Volkswagen back in his place. To do that he won the 2013 Rally Argentina by a comfortable 55 seconds. The Volkswagen duo of Sebastien Ogier and Jar-Matti Latvala filled the minor placings.

As always, Loeb’s victory adds to his impressive and surely unbeatable record. He’s raced in Argentina eight times for eight wins and this is his 78th career win.

“It’s pretty incredible to win Rally Argentina for the eighth time running, in front of so many passionate fans,” Loeb said after claiming his final WRC victory on gravel. “Winning wasn‘t essential for me, but I really got into it when I saw that I was on the pace. Ogier was also quick, but I was a bit more consistent before pulling clear at the end of the second leg. I am pleased to win here for the team; they really deserve it.”

Driver error was one of the reasons Ogier had to settle for second place, he held a 17 second lead over Loeb before losing 40 seconds after missing a braking point on SS7. With no title threat from Loeb possible Ogier decided discretion was the better part of valour.

“Second place is a brilliant result in terms of the world championship and our success was down to the whole team,” reasoned Ogier. “It was an incredibly challenging and difficult rally and my own performance wasn’t entirely flawless. It’s a shame that I couldn’t keep fighting it out against Sébastien Loeb right to the end.”

Meanwhile, Jari-Matti Latvala had to really fight hard with Ford driver Evgeny Novikov for third place. Latvala only grabbed P3 on the second last stage and it’s fair to say he was happy with his work.

“Today was the best day’s rallying since I joined Volkswagen. The team spirit, the car—verything reached a whole new level today, including the driver,” Latvala said. “I’m absolutely thrilled to be standing on the podium for the first time in Argentina. Things often haven’t gone that well here in the last few years, so I’m really pleased to have achieved my goal.”

The WRC field returns to Europe for the Acropolis Rally (2 June). Sebastien Loeb’s fourth race for 2013 and his last ever WRC event will be Rally France in October.

[Source: Citroën WRT & Volkswagen Motorsport]

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Citroen Volkswagen WRC

Sebastien Ogier finishes 2nd in Monte Carlo

Volkswagen Polo R WRC, 2013 Rallye Monte Carlo

Well, of course, the unstoppable Sebastien Loeb won the 2013 Rallye Monte Carlo, his seventh. But with the rally legend competing in only four rounds for Citroën this year the real story from the Monte is Sebastien Ogier’s sensational debut in the Volkswagen Polo R WRC.

In dreadful conditions throughout the rally, Ogier wasted no time in showing the potential of the new Polo by clocking the fastest time in the opening stage of the event. He capped off that great start with a podium position, including a healthy lead of over 2 minutes to third placed Dani Sordo (Citroën).

In effect, then, Ogier leads the world championship. Both he and Volkswagen are talking down their chances for the rest of the year, but we sense there could be something special brewing here and we’d not be surprised at all if one of the Polo drivers claimed the top prize at year’s end.

Fellow Volkswagen driver, Jari-Matti Latvala was running strongly in the top five as well until he, along with several others, fell foul to the extreme conditions on the final day, crashing out on the famous Col de Turini stage.

In the previous 80 Monte rallies we can’t imagine conditions ever being worse than they were in 2013. And with Rally Sweden the next event on the WRC calendar there will be no respite from the snow and ice.

Team statements from Volkswagen and Citroën are available below, along with several photos.

For our part we welcome Volkswagen’s approach to making many photos available to the likes of us and wish the other teams followed suit.

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Citroen WRC

Sebastien Loeb wins 2012 Rally de Espana

Sebastien Loeb wins 2012 Rally de Espana

We’re a little late with the news, of course, but we can’t let Sebastien Loeb’s final act as a full-time WRC driver go unnoticed. In tricky conditions the nine time world champion won the 2012 Rally de Espana. His victory was set up with a 30 second margin back to Jari-Matti Latavla on the second day, allowing Loeb to watch the gap on the final day to claim the event by seven seconds.

The win chalked up the 76th race victory for the all-conquering Sebastien Loeb–Daniel Elena partnership. Proving their strength this year a total of nine wins were added to their career tally in the 2012 season.

In something of a surprise Mikko Hirvonen’s second place in the 2012 drivers’ championship marks the first time Citroën has placed drivers in first and second place, despite an impressive eight manufacturers’ titles.

For the Aussies playing at home, Chris Atkinson brought his MINI home in seventh place. You can read a race debrief from WRC Team MINI Portugal HERE.

So we look ahead to the 2013 WRC season. Not only will Loeb take a backward step, but Volkswagen’s long development process finally comes to an end. Add to the mix a new promoter’s deal and, even though Ford and MINI have withdrawn their factory support, we hope the WRC is about to re-enter a golden age.