PoloDriver

The South African Volkswagen Sasolracing team missed out on podium places at its home event, the Volkswagen Rally, through adverse weather conditions which affected the teams’ performance. Despite the highest Volkswagen crew being place fifth, the Manufacturer Award went to the car maker based at Uitenhage.

Heavy rains
The 17-18 July event around Port Elizabeth on the Eastern Cape was round five of the 2015 South African National Rally Championship. Severe inclement weather resulted in the cancellation of two stages, but did add in extra excitement for the spectators who braved the heavy rains.

The highest-placed Volkswagen Sasolracing crew was Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries. Their Polo S2000 finished fifth on their the pair’s third outing together. By the end of the first day, the duo were fifth overall. And by the end of stage 10 on day two, they had shown they were quick enough to hold on to that spot.

‘It was a very good event, as every Volkswagen Rally proves to be,’ said Fekken. ‘We had a character-building weekend together and Pierre and I pushed hard for fast stage times. We can’t quite match the pace of the leaders yet, but we are adapting well to the left-hand drive layout and will reach our goal sooner rather than later.’

Bent wheel
Sixth place went to Henk Lategan and Barry White, who posted good stage times, with seven in the top five. A bent wheel lost them some time, but they recovered well and during day two charged from a deficit of nearly one-and-a-half minutes behind Gugulethu Zulu and Hilton Auffray to 28 seconds ahead at the end of stage 10.

‘We started the rally a little conservatively,’ said Lategan. ‘It was, however the flat wheel and damage we got in stage two that really posed a problem. We hit something and bent the wheel. We couldn’t get it off to change the tyre. That cost us around five minutes, in just stage two of the rally, and it was very difficult to try and recover from there.’

‘Major moment’

Zulu and Auffray rallied their Polo S2000 to one spot below Lategan and White, coming home in seventh place. Stage one gave them a fourth place result, while the second stage yielded a fifth spot.

‘We always look forward to the Volkswagen Rally,’ said Zulu. ‘We had a good start in stage one, but a major moment saw us lose a lot of time. The technicians did a great job getting the Volkswagen Sasolracing Polo S2000 repaired and then we did decent times,’ he continued.

‘Adverse conditions’
‘I am proud of the Volkswagen Sasolracing team members for their performance under some really adverse conditions,’ said Mike Rowe, Head of Volkswagen Motorsport. ‘The service crews performed their task well, made sure the Volkswagen Sasolracing Polo S2000s were ready to compete throughout the event and displayed good camaraderie in the face of some terrible weather and working conditions.’

‘In motorsport there is a saying that you cannot win an event that you sponsor and the Volkswagen Rally seems to prove it. The Volkswagen Sasolracing team rallied hard, but were just not quite able to hold its competition at bay,’ Rowe continued.

The S1600 class was won by Paul Franken and Henry Kohne from the Manitou Group SA in another Polo. Round six of the 2015 South African National Rally Championship is the Cullinan Rally which takes place on Friday and Saturday, 14 and 15 August.

Toomas ‘Topi’ Heikkinen was the best-placed Volkswagen Polo RX Supercar driver at the sixth round of the 2015 FIA World Rallycross Championship, the World RX of Sweden, which took place in Höljes over the weekend of 4-5 July. Polos were prolifically-represented, though, with four cars in the semi-final rounds.

Welcome return
After scoring a third place in semi-final number two, Heikkinen advanced to the final race, and finished fourth overall behind the Ford Fiesta of Andreas Bakkerud. It was a welcome return to the podium for Volkswagen-backed Marklund Motorsport, and Heikkinen was jubilant about the result.

‘It’s nice to be back in the finals after missing the semi-final two races in a row. Too bad we were not able to compete for a podium, but I’m still pretty happy with this weekend. With my twelfth place in qualifying I was one of the last drivers into the semi-finals, but I still managed to be fourth overall,’ the young Finn said.

It wasn’t quite such good news for Heikkinen’s team-mate Per-Gunnar (P-G) Andersson. He finished 13th in heat four. A bad start in the qualifying heats was out down to a faulty generator on his 600bhp Polo RX Supercar, while a false start in the fourth heat put a stop to his chances in Sweden.

Runner-up position
Championship second-placed Johan Kristoffersson of Volkswagen Team Sweden suffered bad luck on his home round, with a puncture in the semi-finals. However, he still managed to retain his runner-up position in the drivers’ overall standings behind Petter Solberg, despite a seventh-place result in Höljes.

Over 39,000 spectators watched the other Polo RXs and their foes battle it out in the Swedish heat. Kristoffersson’s team-mate and Euro RX driver Ole Christian Veiby finished fifth in semi-final two. Meanwhile, HTB-Marklund Motorsport’s Euro RX driver, Tommy Rustad, brought his Polo RX home fourth in the first semi-final.

After a strong showing in Germany, it was a disappointing World RX of Sweden for Volkswagen Team Sweden’s Tord Linnerud. The Norwegian experienced technical problems and finished 15th in heat four, therefore not progressing any further.

‘Had the pace’
Michael Schneider, team manager of Marklund Motorsport, summed up the weekend with mixed feelings: ‘I am pleased that we are back in final, but not totally happy. Andersson had the pace for the finals this weekend, but unfortunately he had bad luck in the first heat. Tommy Rustad drove a very good race again, just as in Germany. But, for the rest of the season, I hope to put an end to all the bad luck’.

The overall event was won by EKSRX’s Mattias Ekström. It was the second consecutive Swedish win for the Audi S1 Supercar driver, who initially finished second in Höljes, but was awarded the first place after Peugeot’s Timmy Hansen was penalised for an overtaking manoeuvre on the last corner of the final.

The next round of the 2015 FIA World Rallycross Championship, the Word RX of Canada, takes place in Trois-Rivieres on 7-8 August.

2015 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,
DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS
1 Petter Solberg, Citroën DS3: 159
2 Johan Kristoffersson, Volkswagen Polo WRX: 115
3 Andreas Bakkerud, Ford Fiesta ST: 113
4 Timmy Hansen, Peugeot 208: 104
5 Reinis Nitiss, Ford Fiesta ST: 96

2015 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

TEAMS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS
1 Ford Olsbergs MSE: 209
2 Team Peugeot-Hansen: 192
2 SDRX: 182
4 Volkswagen Team Sweden: 154
5 Marklund Motorsport: 126

The highest-placed Polo RX Supercar driver Johan Kristoffersson finished fourth at the fifth round of the 2015 FIA World Rallycross Championship (World RX), the World RX of Germany on 19-21 June. Volkswagen Team Sweden team-mate Tord Linnerud crossed the line in fifth place after Ford Olsbergs MSE driver Andreas Bakkerud was excluded from the final race following contact with Linnerud at turn one. Linnerud was lucky to be taking part at all, thanks to rolling his Polo in free practice.

75-car entry
The 950-metre long Estering track played host to 75 entered car and driver teams, with overall victory taken by Davy Jeanney in his Peugeot 208 RX Supercar. He is the first Frenchman to win a World RX event. Runner-up was reigning champion and 2015 series leader, Petter Solberg who is now 35 points clear of Kristoffersson in the championship standings. Timmy Hansen finished third to make it a double podium for Team Peugeot-Hansen.

Before the event, Marklund Motorsport driver Toomas ‘Topi’ Heikkinen said that the team needed to focus after a string of less than ideal results. ‘We need to focus this weekend. I think we can be quite high up if we do everything right – the team has done a lo of work since Lydden. It’s a really technical track here and it’s a good fit for me, but the car also needs to be really good to make a good result.’

Sadly, though, a ninth place in the fourth Supercar heat saw Heikkinen exit the German round. The young Finn scored a fifth place at the same event in 2014. Team-mate P-G Andersson finished a further 8 places behind, adding to the woes the 600bhp Marklund Motorsport Polo RX squad has suffered throughout the current season.

Euro RX
In the second round of the 2015 FIA European Rallycross Championship (Euro RX), Marklund Motorsport’s Tommy Rustad crossed the line first in his Polo RX Supercar, ahead of Albatec Racing’s Jerome Grosset-Janin. Rustad’s German win sees him edge closer to series leader Grosset-Janin – the Norwegian is now just two points behind.

Martin Anayi, World RX Managing Director for IMG Motorsport, said: ‘Congratulations to Tommy Rustad who took the Euro RX win and regularly challenged the World Championship drivers throughout the heat races. With only two points separating Tommy and Jerome in the European Championship, it’s going to be all to play for when Euro RX resumes at our Norwegian race at the end of August.’

Volkswagen Team Sweden’s 19 year-old Ole Christian Veiby enjoyed a good run in Germany, but missed out in a place in the Euro RX Supercar final, when he scored a fourth place in the first semi-final. Ahead of the event, the Norwegian said: ‘I think you need to gather as many points as possible at Estering – there are only five races in the European Championship so if you have a bad race then your championship will be almost over, so you have to be smart.’

The World RX crews will head to Scandinavia next for the World RX of Sweden event at Holjes on 3-5 July.

2015 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS
1 Petter Solberg, Citroën DS3: 138
2 Johan Kristoffersson, Volkswagen Polo WRX: 103
3 Andreas Bakkerud, Ford Fiesta ST: 88
4 Timmy Hansen, Peugeot 208: 79
5 Reinis Nitiss, Ford Fiesta ST: 77

2015 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

TEAMS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS
1 Ford Olsbergs MSE: 165
2 SDRX: 158
3 Team Peugeot-Hansen: 156
4 Volkswagen Team Sweden: 142
5 Marklund Motorsport: 113

Gugu Zulu and Hilton Auffray were once again among the top five finishers at a round of the 2015 South African National Rally Championship. The Volkswagen Sasolracing pair took their Polo S2000 from seventh place at the end of day one to fourth place overall at the Limpopo Province Bela-Bela Rally (19-20 June). It was Zulu’s third consecutive top five result.

Destroy the time deficit
The 10-stage event saw Henk Lategan and his co-driver Barry White just miss the top five, as their blue and white-liveried Polo S2000 finished sixth. A puncture struck the pair early in the opening stage and they constantly battled to destroy the time deficit from their ninth place finish caused by the setback.

‘We had high hopes for this rally after the last round,’ said Lategan. ‘A front wheel puncture in stage one and struggling with the loose sand was a real problem. I think in my enthusiasm to get into the rhythm of the rally I might have been over-driving the car, making it more difficult. A second puncture in stage seven cost us three minutes but in the final loop we tried a new setup and the times improved considerably,’ the young driver continued.

Little compensation
For Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries, it was a similar story. Although an overnight third place at the end of day one was a promising result, the pair clipped a hidden tree stump in stage eight and damaged the suspension of their Polo S2000, causing them to retire. A stage six win was little compensation.

The Bela-Bela Rally marked only Fergen and Arries’ second outing together since they were reunited in the Volkswagen Sasolracing team at the Secunda Motor Rally last month and it was also only Fekken’s second outing in the left-hand drive Volkswagen Sasolracing Polo S2000.

‘Pierre and I were pushing quite hard, and were comfortably in third on Friday,’ said Fekken. ‘Unfortunately we clipped a tree stump just off-line on one of the corners in stage eight and this pulled our suspension out. I’m also trying to get used to the left-hand drive as quickly as possible which I think shows in our stage times but we’ve got a little way to go yet,’ he continued.

Leeroy Poulter and Elvéne Coetzee took the Bela-Bela win in the Team Castrol Toyota Yaris S2000. Other Polo finishers included Thilo Himmel and Armand du Toit in ninth place. The top Polo S1600 was the car of Marko Himmel and Gert Nienaber in 15th place, followed by Paulus Franken and Henry Kohne six places behind.

The Volkswagen Sasolracing team now turns its attention to its home event, the Volkswagen Rally in the Eastern Cape on Friday and Saturday, 17 and 18 July.

Fresh from Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila’s victory and its podium lock-out at last month’s Rally Portugal, Volkswagen Motorsport headed to Sardinia for the 2015 Rally Italy with emboldened confidence.

The sixth round of the 2015 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC), Volkswagen Motorsport had nothing to prove but still wanted to win. World champion Sébastien Ogier did just that, taking victory ahead of Hyundai Motorsport’s very capable Hayden Paddon and John Kennard.

Lure of a hat-trick
The German outfit won the Sardinian-based event in both 2013 and 2014, so the lure of hat-trick was strong. The Polo R WRC crews started off the 394km event in fourth, fifth and eighth places after the preliminary shakedown run through, but soon gained ground. Sébastien Ogier and Latvala finished the first day on the dusty tracks in second and third places respectively, behind New Zealand’s Paddon.

Andreas Mikkelsen meanwhile was forced out of contention by striking a hole in the road on the ‘Grighine Nord’ stage which damaged a wheel rim and a rear shock absorber, as well as parts of the fuel system. After attempting to fix the malady at the roadside, the Norwegian and his co-driver Ola Fløene abandoned their efforts and rejoined the event under Rally 2 regulations on day two.

Gripping battle
The second day – the longest rallying day for 13 years – saw Frenchman Ogier stage a gripping battle with the plucky Haddon for first place. The young driver was finally surpassed on stage 17, with Ogier and co-driver Julien Ingrassia over two minutes in front by the day’s end. The Polo R WRC also took its 400th WRC stage win.

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