PoloDriver

Round two of the 2014 Engen Volkswagen Cup saw close and exciting racing at the Killarney race circuit in Cape Town, South Africa over the weekend of 29-30 March. Dewald Brummer scythed his way through the pack from ninth place to emerge as the winner of race one. But, as is usually the way with a grid full of Polo Vivos, that race wasn’t without incident.

An on-track clash between Mathew Hodges and Eddie Rodrigues saw Rodrigues at the side of the circuit with a damaged Polo. Moments before, Juan Gerber ended up on his roof after striking the tyre wall, bringing out the safety car. Until that point, Brummer had been fighting a close battle with Daniel Rowe.

Once the sorry-looking cars had been removed from the circuit, the resulting two-lap sprint to the finish finished in favour of Brummer.

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First past the chequered flag, she had Sheldon van der Linde almost hanging onto the bumper of her PG Glass-sponsored Polo Vivo during the last few laps. Van der Linde started in second place and had to hold off Jano van der Westhuizen.

Championship leader Daniel Rowe cemented his lead at Killarney. Posting the fastest qualifying times, he started each race from fifth place on the grid, but finished on the podium once the each event’s action had ended.

In the Masters category, Trevor Bland was the winner, ahead of Hodges and Shaun Holtzhausen. Bland took the lead of the Masters runners off Hodges who lead the category at the end of each round one.

RACE RESULTS
Race 1
1 Dewald Brummer (2: MAD Racing / GMP)
2 Daniel Rowe (11: Ferodo Racing)
3 Jano van der Westhuizen (15: Kwikfix)

Race 2
1 Tasmin Pepper (31: PG Glass)
2 Sheldon van der Linde (16: Ferodo Racing)
3 Daniel Rowe (11: Ferodo Racing)

Overall
1 Daniel Rowe (11: Ferodo Racing)
2 Tasmin Pepper (31: PG Glass)
3 Sheldon van der Linde (16: Ferodo Racing)

Masters
1 Trevor Bland (M6: PG Glass)
2 Mathew Hodges (M3: ITR Africa / 959 Panelbeaters)
3 Shaun Holtzhausen (M9: Firequip / Phoenix Signs

Championship Points (unofficial)
1 Daniel Rowe (11: Ferodo Racing): 90
2 Sheldon van der Linde (16: Ferodo Racing): 78
3 Jano van der Westhuizen (15: Kwikfix): 73
4 Mathew Hodges (M3: ITR Africa / 959 Panelbeaters): 72
5 Tasmin Pepper (31: PG Glass): 71
6 Dewald Brummer (2: MAD Racing / GPM): 67
7 Trevor Bland (M6: PG Glass): 64
8 Andrea Bate (37: Monroe Racing): 52
9 Michael Gibson (21: MAD Racing / GPM): 43
10 Christopher Shorter (33: Hollard / Glass Group): 31

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It was a good start to the season for the Volkswagen Sasolracing team over the weekend of 14-15 March, as the regrouped South African rally squad scored its first podium result of the 2014 season. Hans Weijs Jnr and Björn Degandt claimed third place in KawZulu-Natal, their Polo S2000 proving to be a more than capable steed.

It was the duo’s first event back in South Africa and the Tour Natal provided high temperatures and humidity levels, as well as challenging slippery and loose gravel surfaces.

‘The stages here in KwaZulu-Natal are quite slippery,’ said Weijs. ‘We made notes on our recce pass and used those for the first of the stages, pushing harder on the second run. Running first on the road on Friday was quite taxing but we made sure to keep our times quite close to the leaders. It feels good claiming a podium in this event, we are on a good level and think we will be pushing from stage one at the next rally.’

It was a good event for the other Sasolracing drivers, too. The new partnership of Henk Lategan and Pierre Arries worked well, with the pair claiming fifth place overall. Always in the top five times of each stage on day two saw them pushing for a podium spot.

‘Running wide on a corner in the second-last stage, we beached the car,’ said Lategan. ‘The surfaces here are so slippery that if you get it just a little bit off the line, things can go wrong quickly. Overall it wasn’t a bad rally and Pierre and I are working well together. I think it will take a few more rallies to get up to speed, but it is going well.’

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‘This is a whole new way of driving,’ said Zulu. ‘The brakes, the suspension, the grip, the level of control is just so different, so advanced over the previous generation we raced last year. I still need to build full confidence, but the car is amazing and I hope to get to grips with it very quickly.’

Mike Rowe, Head of Volkswagen Motorsport was pleased with his team’s result. ‘This event is notoriously tough with difficult road conditions. Hans and Björn did very well on Friday, but sweeping the roads at the head of the field certainly took its toll in terms of time. Henk Lategan and Pierre Arries are doing well, their partnership solidified tremendously after the first day and we could see the increase in pace today. Gugu Zulu and Carl Peskin showed a lot of pace and this shows real promise for them the rest of the season.’

Other Polo finishers included AC Potgieter and Tommy du Toit who came in 13th in their Polo S1600 and 19th-placed Chad Van Beurden and Nico Swartz also in a Polo S1600. Paulus Franken and Henry Kohne brought their Manitou Polo S1600 home in 23rd place, while Volkswagen Sasolracing Polo S2000 pair Thilo Himmel and Armand Du Toit finished one place below Franken and Kohne.

The next round of the 2014 South African National Rally Championship is the Sasol Rally, which sees the drivers head to Nelspruit on 11-12 April.

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Ahead of its planned debut next year, the next version of the Polo R WRC will appear later this year, Autosport magazine reports. With a homologation date set for 2015, the revised World Rally Championship Polo will take part in two national-level events in Europe before the end of 2014. The new development of the championship-winning car is expected to see revised aerodynamics and a paddle-shift gearbox. With 42 days allocated for testing per season, running on the additional smaller events means no time is lost from that tight and limited window.

[Source and further information: Autosport]

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Heading to Rally Mexico (6-9 March) leading the 2014 World Rally Championship, Volkswagen Motorsport stayed on top with a one-two finish for Sébastien Ogier and Jari-Matti Latvala. The fourth Volkswagen one-two in WRC history, it all started on Thursday night with a 1km Super Special stage in the town of Guanajuato. The Volkswagen top two finished the fast and furious action around the UNESCO World Heritage site first and third, while the young Volkswagen pilot Andreas Mikkeslen came in fifth.

Rally Mexico is renowned for its tough, dusty and high-altitude conditions, and Ogier and Latvala faced a bigger challenge – being first and second on the stages due to their overall championship positions. After the opening Super Special stage, the second day delivered more flawless action from the Frenchman and the Finn, who opened up a substantial lead over the competition. The final day saw the pace controlled and the Volkswagen stars claimed a fourth one-two for the German outfit.

Sébastien Ogier was rightly ecstatic: ‘Mexico really is a fantastic country for us! I like the rally, and it seems to like me. Our entire team did a sensational job all weekend, and the Polo R WRC was once again super reliable and super quick in extreme conditions. I was hungry for this win after my mistake in Sweden! And although we will now have to act as street sweepers for the opposition at the next round in Portugal, the World Championship points are more important than anything else.’

With dust and loose gravel to contend with, the leading Polo R WRCs were effectively street sweepers, but mighty ones at that: Ogier and co-driver Julien Ingrassia were 5:28.6 minutes ahead of the best-placed non-Volkswagen driver at the end of the event on Sunday. The French pair are now back in the lead at the top of the championship points table, nosing ahead of Latvala and his co-driver Miikka Anttila.

Latvala was reflective, but happy: ‘I am really very happy with second place. Having been first onto the route on day one, which meant we were quite a long way off the lead, we set our sights on a place on the podium. Rally Mexico was hard work and also very demanding on the cars. The Polo coped admirably with the stresses and strains of the high altitude and soaring temperatures, and our team also did a perfect job.’

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It wasn’t plain sailing for the young Norwegian, though. On Friday the pair suffered damaged suspension when they hit a rock exiting a corner on the ‘El Chocolate’ stage, forcing retirement from second position. Saturday meanwhile saw Polo R WRC #9 roll, when a mistake in the pace notes saw a corner cut and the car hit a hole in the road, flipping it over.

But, as ever, the super-competent Volkswagen Motorsport mechanics worked miracles, and the battered Polo was back as good as new for the final day’s action on Sunday. Repairing the rolled car took just under three hours, the time limit specified in the WRC regulations. As it was Mikkelsen and Markkula’s first time at Rally Mexico, they used the final day of the event to gather experience rather than championship points.

Mikkelsen acknowledged his errors. ‘A tough rally for us. Retiring twice is not exactly what we had in mind. I just made too many mistakes. Thanks to the great job done by my mechanics, I was still able to gain a few kilometres of experience at Rally Mexico on Sunday, which will allow us to push hard again next year. All in all, we learned an awful lot here – unfortunately we did it the hard way.’

The Polo R WRC proved faultless as usual, dealing unflappably with Rally Mexico’s difficult conditions. With the special stages taking teams from 1800 to 2800 metres above sea level, rally cars can suffer. The higher they go, the cooling efficiency of the engine decreases due to the lower air pressure and oxygen content in the air, but the Polo R WRC was prepared well with software intelligence, minimising performance losses.

Jost Capito, Volkswagen Motorsport Director was more than happy with his team’s results. ‘A one-two in these difficult conditions and given the new regulations regarding the starting order is more than we had expected coming into Rally Mexico. I take my hat off to Sébastien Ogier, Jari-Matti Latvala and our engineers, who made this success possible. The performance of the two drivers was undoubtedly outstanding.

‘However, the one-two is also a team success. Whether the chassis department or the engine department, the Polo R WRC was perfectly prepared for the difficult conditions. The champagne tastes particularly good today, as success in Mexico is always a bit special. It is the first gravel event of the year, and virtually a home event for Volkswagen. After all, our models are part of the scenery here. Everything came together here in Mexico, and we are very proud of what we have achieved.’

2014 FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP,
RALLY MEXICO: FINAL RESULTS

1 Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (F/F), Volkswagen: 4h 27m 41.8s
2 Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila (FIN/FIN), Volkswagen: + 1m 12.6s
3 Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul (B/B), Hyundai: + 5m 28.6s
4 Elfyn Evans/Daniel Barritt (GB/GB), Ford: + 6m 49.3s
5 Martin Prokop/Jan Tománek (CZ/CZ): Ford + 9m 54.4s

2014 FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP,

DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS
1 Sébastien Ogier, 63
2 Jari-Matti Latvala, 60
3 Mads Østberg, 32
4 Andreas Mikkelsen, 24
5 Elfyn Evans, 20

2014 FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP,
MANUFACTURERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS
1 Volkswagen Motorsport, 115
2 Citroën Total Abu Dhabi WRT, 60
3 M-Sport, 40
4 Hyundai Motorsport, 31
5 Volkswagen Motorsport II, 28

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Mathew Hodges and Daniel Rowe emerged as winners of the opening rounds of the Engen Volkswagen Cup circuit racing series at the 2014 championship at Zwartkops Raceway, Pretoria on 1 March. As is often the case, the drivers delivered an exciting first pair of races, with a few surprises thrown in for good measure.

Dewald Brummer and Rowe set the early pace in qualifying in their Volkswagen Polo Vivo race cars, with Hodges coming in behind them. For 2014, Hodges is competing in the ‘Masters’ category for drivers over the age of 27, and he hasn’t slowed down. Starting on pole position, he won the first race and came fifth in race two. Hodges is third in the championship standings.

An on-track battle with Brummer saw Rowe defeated, finishing third, handing second place in race one to his foe. But, he soon emerged victorious, taking the chequered flag in a very wet race two, from a sixth place starting position on the grid. Brummer suffered bad luck – a fuel pump problem saw him fall down the order to finish 17th from a pole position start.

Zwartkops was a baptism of fire for 14 year-old Sheldon van der Linde (brother of 2012 Engen Volkswagen Cup champion Kelvin van der Linde), who put in good qualifying performance, ending the second race in second place and even taking the lead during proceedings. Van der Linde didn’t escape unharmed, though, as a close battle with Shaun La Resérvée shattered the driver’s side window of the number 16 Polo Vivo.

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RACE RESULTS
Race 1
1 Mathew Hodges (M3: ITR Africa / 959 Panelbeaters / Dickron Motors)
2 Dewald Brummer (2: MAD Racing / GPM)
3 Daniel Rowe (11: Ferodo Racing)

Race 2
1 Daniel Rowe (11: Ferodo Racing)
2 Sheldon van der Linde (16: Ferodo Racing)
3 Jano van der Westhuizen (15: Kwikfix)

Overall
1 Daniel Rowe (11: Ferodo Racing)
2 Sheldon van der Linde (16: Ferodo Racing)
3 Jano van der Westhuizen (15: Kwikfix)

Masters
1 Mathew Hodges (M3: ITR Africa / 959 Panelbeaters / Dickron Motors)
2 Juan Gerber (M8: Carfind.co.za)
3 Trevor Bland (M6: PG Glass)

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