We’re just three races into the 2015 WRC season and dual world champion Sebastien Ogier already has a commanding lead in the drivers’ championship. Here’s a pictorial look back at how he conquered the dust and gravel in Rally Mexico.
It’s okay, unlike Sebastien, we give all of his main rivals equal time in the spotlight too. Enjoy the pics!
It’s time to dust off your sombrero and grab a Corona from the fridge because Sebastien Ogier has won Rally Mexico for the third year in a row.
Before the event the reigning world champion said it would be difficult to manage a podium finish due to regulations seeing him running first on the road, sweeping the dust and gravel aside for his following opponents. And yet, in the end, the Volkswagen ace won the event by almost 1 minute and 20 seconds from Citroën’s Mads Ostberg.
“Absolutely incredible! I am so happy and proud of this victory in Mexico,” Ogier said after his third win from three starts in 2015. “It is one of the best wins of my career. Julien and I had a perfect weekend, the Polo was fantastic, and the team did a magnificent job.
“We pushed like crazy from the word go in the cockpit, came up with the cleverest tyre selection on Friday—and were rewarded in the end.
“It is my third win in a row here. The Rally Mexico seems to be kind to me. And I love coming here. The route suits me, the countryside is fantastic, and the fans make the rally a great fiesta every year.”
Andreas Mikkelsen moved up to second in the championship standings thanks to his third place on a weekend where many front runners had problems.
Kris Meeke crashed out. Jari-Matti Latvala crashed out. And so did Thierry Neuville.
The most spectacular incident was when Ott Tanak gently rolled into a lake. That in itself wasn’t so bad, it was the sight of his Ford Fiesta RS WRC sinking and the subsequent footage of he and co-driver Raigo Molder swimming to safety that grabbed the headlines. We’ll have more on that later.
In the meantime Ogier now enjoys a 34 point lead in the drivers’ championship and appears well on the way to a third straight title. The WRC returns in mid-April for Rally Argentina.
Well, whaddya know, time flies when you’re having fun and Rally Mexico is almost upon us. By the barest of margins here’s your chance to check out the ice cool pics from Rally Sweden, which was one of the most exciting WRC events we’ve ever seen.
Let’s hope Rally Mexico provides as much entertainment and another chance to look at those silly hats!
Sebastien Ogier won Rally Sweden on the weekend, but this was not just any rally win. It was one of the most exciting finales to a WRC event we have been lucky enough to see. And the final deciding stage was live on television.
Going into the last special stage, a power stage offering bonus championship points, Andreas Mikkelsen held a narrow lead from Sebastien Ogier and Thierry Neuville. All three drivers had led the rally at various stages over the weekend.
Neuville was the first of the three leaders to go and did his part by setting the fastest time, more than five seconds faster than Mads Ostebrg’s previous best. Next was Ogier and in that 16km final stage we saw what he is made of. The dual world champion was blistering and went 4.8 seconds faster than Neuville. Wow!
The pressure was on the young shoulders of Andreas Mikkelsen, could he defend his lead and claim his maiden WRC victory?
Alas for the 25-year-old Norwegian he made a small mistake about two-thirds the way through the stage. Like many before him during this event, he ran a fraction wide on a corner and was sucked into one of the soft snow banks. There was no damage to his car, but the 40 seconds he lost relegated him back to third place, behind Neuville and eventual winner Ogier. It was a cruel blow and ended hopes for what would have been a very popular win.
With his second win from two races Ogier is already building a sizeable gap in the championship; he has 53 points and leads Mikkelsen and Neuville, both on 30 points.
The next rally will take place in Mexico in around three weeks from now.
Before Rally Sweden kicks off next weekend, take some time to relive Volkswagen’s dominantion of Rallye Monte Carlo, where the reigning world champions went Ogier one, Latvala two and Mikkelsen three!
The Volkswagen Polo R WRC may have a new look but it’s still the dominant force in world rallying as the team’s record-breaking clean sweep of the podium at the Rallye Monte Carlo proved.
Sebastien Ogier again showed he will be the man to beat in 2015, taking victory by almost one minute ahead of Jari-Matti Latvala. While Andreas Mikkelsen finished third to make it a perfect result for Volkswagen.
In his one-off appearance for Citroën nine-time world champion Sebastien Loeb showed the world he still has blistering pace. Loeb set the scene by going fastest on the opening stage and taking the lead of the rally. He stayed there until SS7 when Ogier fought his way in front.
Loeb’s chances of victory ended after he hit a rock on SS8, which forced him out for the day. He rejoined under Rally 2 regs and fought back to finish eighth overall. The French maestro also won more special stages than any driver during the event.
Mads Ostberg finished fourth for Citroën. Hyundai’s best result came from Thierry Neuville and Dani Sordo, who finished fifth and sixth respectively. While Elfyn Evans was the best placed Ford driver in P7.
Rally Sweden is next up, taking place in mid-February.
Vokswagen’s WRC title defence starts next week when Rallye Monte Carlo gets underway and this is the car they will be using.
The most immediate change is the new livery, but underneath the skin the second-gen Polo R WRC has been given a thorough going over. The most notable technical change for 2015 is the introduction of steering wheel mounted paddles for changing gears; the old sequential lever gearsticks are no longer in place.
“The new Polo R WRC has undergone intense further development, both on the inside and the outside,” said Dr Heinz-Jakob Neußer, Volkswagen Board Member for Technical Development. “Not only does it look even more dynamic and sporty than it did before, but our engineers have also been working meticulously on technical innovations under the bonnet and have improved many detailed aspects of the package that has been so successful for the past two years.
“The focus of this further development was on efficiency, reliability and performance. We can hardly wait to see the new Polo R WRC in Monte Carlo and at the other twelve rallies on four continents.”
World Champion Sebastien Ogier and Jari-Matti Latvala will get their 2015-spec Polos straight away, while junior driver Andreas Mikkelsen will have to wait until the fifth rally of the year in Portugal.
Following on from our Best of 2014 WEC gallery, we’ve trawled through our 2014 WRC image archive and picked out the best 13 pics from the 13 rallies.
And here they are!
Will you just look at all that bloody mud! It’s the signature look for the Wales Rally GB and, for once, being first on the road was a nice advantage for rally winner Sebastien Ogier who made the most of the wet conditions before the stages became too rutted and dug up by all the cars.
There’s some great photos below and we trust you will enjoy your last gallery of rally pics for 2014. Until Rallye Monte Carlo… if in doubt, flat out!
Sebastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia have capped off a stunning WRC season with their eighth victory of the year at the Wales Rally GB. It’s the twelfth win for Volkswagen from the 13 race calendar and a season of success like this has to be savoured, for you can never expect it to be repeated.
“That is obviously the best way to end a season: with a win,” said Ogier after the rally. “We really had to go flat-out on Friday and had a close battle for the lead with my team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala. That allowed us to open up a big lead over the rest of our rivals.
“When Jari-Matti made a mistake on Saturday, it obviously completely changed the character of the rally for us. I just had to get the car to the finish line. However, that is anything but easy given the typical conditions here in Wales. All in all, it has been another magnificent season for Julien and me, with a fantastic team behind us.”
In perhaps his best achievable result in his final WRC start Mikko Hirvonen ended his career on the podium, a bit over 37 seconds behind Ogier. It was a great way for the popular Finn to say goodbye to his fans.
“I couldn’t really think of a better way to end my career,” Hirvonen said. “We had a great fight all through the weekend and to finish with the second place is absolutely fantastic.
“Today it was a bit emotional for sure. Before this morning I manage to be pretty on it and concentrate on the rally, but today it was a bit more difficult!”
Mads Ostberg finished third, meaning the healthy sight of three different manufacturers on the podium was a pleasing way to end the WRC season, dominated by Volkswagen.
Ostberg’s points proved valuable for Citroën and allowed them to claim second place in the manufacturers’ championship, just two points ahead of M-Sport (Ford).
Given their all-conquering season Volkswagen might have hoped the final event could end like the championship standings, with their drivers filling the first three places. But for some minor errors by Jari-Matti Latvala and Andreas Mikkelsen that might have been the case too. The Polos certainly had the pace in the muddy conditions, but not the consistency from the men behind the wheel.
Still, 2014 has been a great season for Volkswagen and we hope Citroën, Ford and Hyundai can raise their game in 2015.
The Volkswagen Polo R WRC has taken the rally world by storm. Since making its debut in Monte Carlo last year it has won 20 out of 24 rallies entered. Even with the resources Volkswagen is throwing behind its WRC team, that’s quite a remarkable achievement.
Heading into the 2015 season you’d think Volkswagen Motorsport would be confident its dominance can continue. According to Volkswagen technical chief Francois-Xavier Demaison that’s not the case at all.
“I am more nervous with the new car,” revealed Demaison. “When we started with the current car, we did not really have pressure—we had a three-year plan to be champions.
“The idea was to do the first car and then make a second step to improve it, but when we see the results we had with this car… it’s a bit more complicated now!
“We have to be better or at least as good. It’s really hard for us for next year.”
Perhaps adding to Demaison’s concerns is the fact Hyundai will have an all-new i20 WRC next season, whereas Volkswagen will be racing an evolution of the current car with up to 80% of the 2014 championship winning Polo R WRC to be kept.
[Source: Autosport]
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.