PoloDriver

Following a good start to the season, US driver Tanner Foust took his Polo RX Supercar to his first 2014 FIA World Rallycross Championship victory at the rain-soaked Finnish round of the series held at Kouvola over 28-29 June.

Battling through the World RX of Finland heats and semi-finals, the Top Gear USA presenter emerged victorious over Ford driver Andreas Bakkerud in the final, taking a lights-to-flag win. Fellow Ford driver Reinis Nitiss came in third.

Foust was pleased with both his performance as well as the Marklund Polo RX Supercar. ‘I’m absolutely delighted,’ beamed the two-time Formula Drift Champion who will also compete at World RX of Canada and Turkey later this year.

‘This is such a challenging track and with rain it is unbelievably difficult. When you’re not at the front it’s murder to see where you’re going as the car is caked in mud from the moment you’re off the line. I have to say the Polo is very, very good. The VW Marklund team have done an excellent job with the car.’

After two heat wins and a second place in the first semi-final behind team-mate Foust, Anton Marklund was due an overall podium place, but the young Swede was unable to keep up with the US driver in the treacherous conditions. He secured a fifth place in the final and more importantly, additional championship points in the process.

Team-mate Topi Heikkinen made it through to the semi-finals but a tussle with Britain’s Liam Doran and Ireland’s Derek Tohill saw all three drivers retire and miss out on a chance in the final.

The third 600bhp all-wheel drive Volkswagen Marklund Polo RX driven by Toomas ‘Topi’ Heikinnen missed out on a place in the final due to a tussle with Liam Doran and Derek Tohill which resulted in all three drivers retiring.

But, with 74 points and in fourth place in the championship, Heikinnen remains the strongest Volkswagen Marklund driver. Anton Marklund is in fifth place with 61 points, while Foust is three places further down the field in eighth with 42 points.

Other Polo rallycross competitor results were a fourth place finish in semi-final one for Ernestas Staponkus in the Super 1600 category, while Touring Car classification driver Patrick Mertens scored a fifth place in the second semi-final.

The fifth race of the season will be the World RX Sweden, held at the Höljes Motorstadion over the weekend of 5-6 July.

2014 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 Renis Nitiss, 96

2 Andreas Bakkerud, 82
3 Petter Solberg, 80

4 Toomas Heikinnen, 74

5 Anton Marklund, 61

2014 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

TEAMS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 Ford Olsbergs MSE, 178

2 Volkswagen Marklund, 135

3 Team Peugeot-Hansen, 96
4 PSRX, 92
5 Monster Energy World RX Team, 33

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In a now-familiar scenario, Volkswagen Motorsport came out on top once more at Rally Poland last weekend (26-29 June). World Rally Champions Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia scored the 17th victory for the Polo R WRC, out of the 20 rallies in which it has competed.

It was a Volkswagen 1-2, as Andreas Mikkelsen and Ola Fløene finished second at the event in Eastern Europe. Team-mates Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila put in a storming catch-up drive to complete the event in fifth place.

The Polish win was the 21st for Ogier and Ingrassia and the Frenchmen now have a 50-point lead ahead of team-mates Latvala and Anttila. It’s a Volkswagen 1-2-3 in the Drivers’ Championship, as Mikkelsen and Fløene sit under Latvala and Anttila. The first non-Volkswagen driver is Citroën’s Mads Østberg in fourth place.

The 315bhp, four-wheel drive Polo R WRC now has 30 podium positions under its tyres from 20 events. It was the first time the Volkswagen Motorsport team had lined up for Rally Poland, the seventh event of the 2014 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) calendar.

As usual, Ogier stormed through the fifth gravel rally of 2014, with a pace of 73mph over the 304.21km-long event. With the lead constantly alternating between him and Mikkelsen over the opening stages, the Frenchman was put under real pressure by the young Norwegian and had to put pedal to the metal to stay ahead.

Mikkelsen really was on fire, clocking up an average pace of 84mph over the 12.89km of the Wieliczki 2 stage – he went at full pelt for 80.21 per cent of this stage, setting a new fastest time record in the process.

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It was a points-scoring weekend rather than a victorious one for Toomas ‘Topi’ Heikinnen and Anton Marklund at the 2014 FIA World Rallycross Championship in Norway, over 14-15 June. The Marklund Motorsport drivers just missed out on places in the Supercar final in Hell, but did add valuable points to their championship standings.

Both young drivers and their 600bhp Polo RXs finished fourth in their respective semi-finals in Norway, where a third place would have guaranteed a position in the final stage of the competition.

Instead championship-boosting points were the order of the weekend. Heikinnen currently lies third in the Driver’s Championship with 60 points. Marklund lies sixth, with 39 points. Overall leader is Latvian Reinis Nittis with 72 points, who also took victory in Hell.

Other Polo results included a fourth place in one of the Super 1600 semi-finals for Ernestas Staponkus, while Patrick Mertens suffered a non-start in the line-up for the fourth heat of the Touring Car classification.

2014 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 Renis Nitiss, 72

2 Petter Solberg, 69

3 Toomas Heikinnen, 60

4 Andreas Bakkerud, 56
5 Timur Timerzyanov, 41

6 Anton Marklund, 39

2014 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

TEAMS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 Ford Olsbergs MSE, 128

2 Marklund Motorsport supported by Volkswagen, 99

3 PSRX, 78

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It was business as usual in Sardinia, as Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia scored their fourth victory of the 2014 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC), and their 20th WRC win overall. That means Volkswagen remains unbeaten in 2014, increasing its winning run to 10 consecutive victories.

The other Volkswagen Polo R WRC crews also did well: Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila were third, while Andreas Mikkelsen and Ola Fløene came home fourth.

Rally Italy was an event of excitement, as fans were treated to duel between Ogier and Latvala. Fighting for stage wins, Polo R WRCs numbers 1 and 2 were embroiled in battles for fractions of seconds, as well as the overall rally lead.

In a regular turn of events, Latvala suffered bad luck when he got a puncture and slipped down the leaderboard to third place.

Volkswagen Motorsport has stressed there is no team orders and its motto is ‘may the best man win’, which played to Latvala’s advantage on the fifth stage. Claiming the lead ahead of Ogier, the Frenchman won stages, matching his team-mate step for step.

With 100km of stages remaining before the rally reached its end, only 12.3 seconds separated the sparring team-mates.

An ecstatic Ogier said: ‘“I am overjoyed! This win was definitely one of the toughest of my career. Right from day one, Julien and I have pushed ourselves to the very limit here on Sardinia. In this heat, and with the extremely slippery conditions on the roads, we had to risk everything to put Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila under pressure.

‘It ultimately paid off, and we won. We may lead the World Championship at the halfway point in the season, but that is no reason to relax: Jari-Matti is on top form at the moment.’

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In a motorsport weekend which saw Polos active in two disciplines, it was a double celebration for Volkswagen over the 7-8 June. While Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia won Rally Italy in Sardinia in their Polo R WRC, US rallycross driver Scott Speed was victorious at X Games 2014 in a Polo RX.

The Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross driver’s win was his second in as many events, as he also took the spoils in round one of the 2014 Red Bull Global Rallycross Championship in Barbados. Speed, a former F1 driver took the title in Austin, Texas ahead of Bucky Lasek and Nelson Piquet Jnr in a Marklund Motorsport-prepared, 7UP-painted 600bhp Polo RX.

‘Our plan A went perfectly,’ said Speed after his win ahead of 18 other Supercars at the Circuit of the Americas. ‘The car was so good today, just makes my job easy,’ he continued.

His team-mate, Top Gear USA presenter Tanner Foust reached the quarterfinals in his ‘Rockstar’-liveried Polo RX, winning two races before rolling the car out of contention. Speed now leads the GRC by 54 points, while Foust is in eleventh place with four points.

‘Once again, I’m super-impressed by how the Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross team has prepared our team cars,’ said Foust. ‘Our Volkswagen Polos are the two best cars on the track.’

Marklund Motorsport also fielded its two drivers, who represented Volkswagen Motorsport. FIA World Rallycross Championship entrants Tomas ‘Topi’ Heikkinen and Anton Marklund both reached the quarterfinals in their Polo RX Supercars, which are all but identical to the versions piloted by Speed and Foust.

Marklund was the fastest driver on the US track on the Saturday, but suffered a bad start in his quarterfinal after a spin in the first corner. Heikinnen meanwhile suffered a broken driveshaft after contact with another driver. Both will be in action again in Norway this weekend (14-15 June) at World RX of Norway in Hell.

The next round of the Global Rallycross Championship is Volkswagen Rallycross DC on 21 and 22 June 21 at RFK Stadium, close to Volkswagen of America’s Herndon headquarters.

[Images: ESPN Images, Larry Chen]

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