Category: WRC

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Citroen Ford Hyundai Volkswagen WRC

2014 Rally Spain in pictures

2014 WRC Rally Rally-Spain

Rally Spain is the only mixed surface event on the WRC calendar. The opening day is on gravel, the remaining two days are on tarmac. It’s a huge test for the crews to work on the cars and make significant changes to setups during relatively short service stops. It’s also a big test for the drivers, who switch from cars with massive suspension travel and small brakes to firm riding track-day weapons with huge brakes.

The surface change played a key role in Sebastien Ogier’s victory, too, with teammate Jari-Matti Latvala struggling on day one, only to find his feet on the smooth tarmac roads in Catalunya. What was a lead of around 30 seconds after the first day was whittled back to a lead of 11 seconds by the rally’s end. Still, that was enough for Ogier to secure back-to-back world championships.

You’ll see from the images below that the dust on those gravel roads not only affected the outcome of the rally, but provided some truly spectacular images as well. Of note in Spain also, Ken Block took some time out from burning rubber to make one of his rare WRC appearances.

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Ford Volkswagen WRC

Sebastien Ogier wins 2014 Rally Spain

2014 WRC Rally Spain

Sebastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia have wrapped up their second world rally championship after taking victory in Rally Spain yesterday. The French duo needed just one more point than Jari-Matti Latvala to defend their title and despite a relatively slender 11 second winning margin they always had Latvala’s measure.

“It’s a fantastic feeling to become world champion for a second time! I’m over the moon, it was a real battle to defend the title,” an excited Ogier said after his victory. “In particular, my team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala showed an incredibly strong performance in the last few months. Now Julien and I have a great sense of happiness and relief.

“Big thanks to our fantastic team at Volkswagen. Not just for giving us a fantastic car throughout the season. But also for the unique solidarity that we have. It doesn’t matter whether things are going well or badly—the team stands by every driver crew and that is extremely motivating. I’m happy and proud to be part of this team. Today we will have a big world championship party, that much is clear!”

Rally Spain is run on a mix of gravel and tarmac and on the opening gravel stages Latvala struggled with his car and spent the rest of the rally chasing Ogier’s tail. The Finn did well to fight back and claim second place, he also claimed the fastest time in the power stage and three bonus championship points. Latvala is now 31 points behind Ogier and with just Wales Rally GB left to race and 28 points on offer he’ll have to make do with second once more.

Ford driver Mikko Hirvonen finished third in Spain, which leaves him fourth in the championship and the best placed non-Volkswagen driver. Hirvonen cannot catch Andreas Mikkelsen, who finished seventh, meaning Volkswagen drivers will finish the year 1-2-3 in the overall drivers’ standings.

Mads Ostberg was fourth in his Citroën ahead of Hyundai duo Dani Sordo and Thierry Neuville. While Hyundai and Neuville are the only combination to take victory from Volkswagen this year, we must pray that Hyundai and the other teams can increase the pressure on Volkswagen’s title defence in 2015.

For now, though, well done to Ogier and Volkswagen for their unrelenting dominance.

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Volkswagen WRC

No changes for Volkswagen’s WRC “dream team”

Sebastien Ogier, Andreas Mikkelsen, Jari-Matti Latvala

Volkswagen Motorsport has announced it will retain the services of its current driver lineup into the 2015 WRC season.

Sebastien Ogier, Jari-Matti Latvala and Andreas Mikkelsen currently fill the first three positions in the chase for the drivers’ championship; Ogier needs to score only a single point more than Latvala in this weekend’s Rally Spain to successfully defend his world title. Between them they’ve accumulated 38 podiums, including 20 wins, from the 24 rallies Volkswagen has competed in.

Reading the quotes from the drivers below it’s just one big love in at Volkswagen, which is both a sign of great team harmony and that maybe WRC egos are more congenial than those found inf Formula 1.

The talents of Ogier and Latvala are well known, so in 2015 Andreas Mikkelsen will be the driver to watch, we think. His results are becoming more consistent as he gains experience and a maiden WRC win cannot be too far away.

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Formula 1 WRC

Kubica still hopes for “dream” F1 comeback

2014 WRC Rally France

Robert Kubica still holds out hope for a return to Formula 1, saying he will consider more corrective surgery to the arm he injured in a rally crash in February 2011.

Competing in the WRC this season Kubica said: “The arm and hand are okay. From a mobility point of view, there have been some improvements. From a limitation point of view, it’s pretty much the same.

“So I need to have more surgery—and there are possibilities—but it’s a tight season, there are many rallies and they are long events.”

Kubica, who turns 30 on 7 December, has previously said a return to F1 was “nearly impossible”. His most recent F1 race was the 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

“Formula 1 would be a dream to come back but we have to stay realistic,” Kubica added. “If I decide to try and come back I will have more surgery this winter and maybe with the help of the doctors, and with some luck, it will be possible.”

[Source: BBC]

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Citroen Ford Hyundai Volkswagen WRC

2014 Rally de France-Alsace in pictures

2014 WRC Rally France

It’s been a massive weekend of motorsport. We’ve had the Bathurst 1000, the 6 Hours of Fuji and the Russian Grand Prix is currently sending the world to sleep. So if you’re still awake take this chance to relive the 2014 Rally de France-Alsace, won by Volkswagen’s Jari-Matti Latvala.

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Citroen Volkswagen WRC

Jari-Matti Latvala wins 2014 Rally de France-Alsace

2014 Rally de France-Alsace

Jari-Matti Latvala won his first tarmac rally after claiming Rally de France-Alsace on the weekend. It’s his 12th WRC victory and, amazingly, it’s the 20th win from 24 starts for the Volkswagen Polo R WRC.

Following the demise of Sebastien Ogier’s chances on the opening day due to a faulty gearbox sensor, Latvala dominated the rally, despite early competiton from his junior Volkswagen teammate Andreas Mikkelsen.

In the end, a self-assured Latvala won by almost 45 seconds from Mikkelsen. Kris Meeke added to his resumé and 2015 employment chances by finishing third for Citroën. Dani Sordo was the best placed Hyundai in fourth, while Ford’s best result was the P5 claimed by Mikko Hirvonen.

Robert Kubica was sitting pretty, heading for fourth on the last day. It would have been his best WRC result, but he crashed out once again.

Ogier finished a lowly thirteenth but he did manage to earn himself maximum bonus points in the power stage. Although that wasn’t enough to wrap up his second world drivers’ title. He’ll have to wait for Rally Spain later this month, where he’ll need to earn one more point than Latvala to secure the championship.

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Citroen Ford Hyundai Video Volkswagen WRC

2014 Rally Australia video highlights

2014 Rally Australia video highlights

If you missed any of the TV footage from Rally Australia fear not, because here’s just under four minutes of all the best bits. Follow this link to the Best of Rally Live YouTube account if you’d like to see more.

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WRC

Rally Australia fighting for last place

2014 WRC Rally Australia

Rally Australia organisers are planning to bump Rally GB from the last event on the WRC calendar from 2016 onwards. The 2015 calendar has Rally Australia in the same September slot as this year, with Rally GB in its traditional finale position.

However, Rally Australia boss Ben Rainsford, who is negotiating with the FIA to secure the event until 2018, reckons a warm Aussie summer would make the perfect send off for the WRC year.

“We’re pretty open about wanting to be the last event in the championship and we’ll push hard for it, very hard,” Rainsford said. “We’re looking at putting on a gala dinner, an end-of-season party in Sydney. The city’s ripe for it and Sydney’s good at that kind of thing.

“An Australian summer is a very good place to be, especially when you’re in a European winter. We’ve run as the final round in Perth a few times and it was very popular.”

Rally GB has hosted the final event of the WRC season 33 times since the series began in 1973 and organisers are keen to maintain that spot.

“Rally GB has always presented a unique and demanding challenge to the teams and a fitting climax to the championship,” said Ben Taylor, Rally GB managing director. “Over the years it has thrown up some thrilling finishes and it makes sense for the key WRC markets for those to be played out in a European time zone.

“We certainly don’t presume the right to hold the final event, but Wales Rally GB is on an upward curve and we are committed to working with our partners, the FIA and the promoter to deliver the best possible rally with which to end the next two seasons and beyond.”

[Source: Autosport]

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Citroen Ford Hyundai Volkswagen WRC

2014 Rally Australia in pictures

2014 WRC Rally Australia

In our biggest WRC gallery yet—there’s 88 photos in all—here’s your chance to relive Rally Australia. If you’re a Volkswagen fan this might be one to bookmark becuase for the first time in their WRC existence the German juggernaut claimed a clean sweep of all three podium positions.

Also taking a clean sweep were the photographers plying their trade down under. These are some of the best rally pics we’ve seen all year and we’re chuffed to be able to share them with you all.

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WRC

2015 WRC calendar announced

2014 WRC Rally Germany

The 2015 WRC calendar was announced at the recent FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting held in Beijing. It’s largely a carbon copy of this year’s calendar with the only change being the sensible swap with Rally Argentina and Rally Portugal, meaning the South American rally will follow after Rally Mexico.

RoundDateCountryRally
125 JanuaryMCORallye Monte Carlo*
215 FebruarySWERally Sweden
38 MarchMEXRally Mexico
419 AprilARGRally Argentina
524 MayPRTRallye de Portugal
614 JuneITARally d'Italia
75 JulyPOLRally Poland
82 AugustFINRally Finland
923 AugustDEURallye Deutschland*
1013 SeptemberAUSRally Australia
114 OctoberFRARallye de France*
1225 OctoberESPRally de España
1315 NovemberGBRRally Great Britain

* Subject to Promotion Agreement

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Volkswagen WRC

Sebastien Ogier wins 2014 Rally Australia

2014 Rally Australia

Sebastien Ogier led a dominant Volkswagen team to victory at Rally Australia on the weekend. Volkswagen drivers filled all three podium steps in order of seniority, with Jari-Matti Latvala finishing just 6.8 seconds behind Ogier and Andreas Mikkelsen a bit over a minute further behind.

With that Volkswagen successfully defended its manufacturers championship and in record time too. There’s three rallies left in the season and with a 50 point lead Ogier is favourite to claim his second world championship, ahead of teammate Latvala.

On the forest tracks around Coffs Harbour Citroën driver Kris Meeke showed good early pace fighting for a podium position until a 61 second penalty was handed to him for cutting a corner illegally. That left him back in fifth battling with Ford’s Mikko Hirvonen, a three time winner down under.

Meeke’s pace was still strong and he was able to claim one position back by the end of the rally, finishing over eight seconds ahead of Hirvonen.

Kiwi driver Hayden Paddon continued his good efforts with Hyundai coming home in sixth place, his best WRC finish to date and one place ahead of team leader Thierry Neuville.

Australia’s Chris Atkinson finished tenth for Hyundai after finding conditions difficult on the first day.

“It’s not been the easiest of weekends as I struggled to get into a rhythm early on in the rally,” Atkinson said. “That has had a knock-on effect for the remaining days, as I was first on the road. That has dictated the extent I have been able to push so instead we just focused on finishing the rally. It’s nice we’ve been able to get all three cars inside the top ten.”

Volkswagen’s press release is available after the break and we’ll have a photo gallery for you later in the week.

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WRC

Remembering Bjorn Waldegard

Bjorn Waldegard, 1973 RAC Rally

While Rally Australia is in full swing its timely to remember the passing of Bjorn Waldegard, who in 1979 became the first official WRC champion.

Waldegard died on 29 August at the age of 70. Judging by the number of tributes following Waldegard’s death he was a much loved member of the international motorsport community.

Over at Motorsport Retro a wonderful gallery encompassing Waldegard’s career has been compiled. We recommend you take the time to have a look and learn a bit more about the likeable Swede.

We especially liked the image of Bjorn in a very mangled BMW 2002, caputred during a liaison stage of the 1973 RAC Rally.

[Source: Motorsport Retro]