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It was celebration time again for Volkswagen Motorsport at Rally France (3-5 October), as Finnish duo Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila claimed victory after a tough fight with Norwegian and Finnish team-mates Andreas Mikkelsen and Ola Fløene.

The Nordic pair finished second. Latvala and Anttila are the first Finns to win an all-asphalt event for just under 15 years. The victory narrows their drivers’ championship challenge to leaders Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia.

It wasn’t quite so clean cut for Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia. The Frenchmen suffered a faulty gear-shift sensor on their Polo R WRC and submitted a time card incorrectly, resulting in a 13th place finish on their home event. It wasn’t not all bad news, though, as they won the Power Stage, picking up three bonus points for the Volkswagen Motorsport team.

Latvala and Antilla were dominant throughout Rally France, taking the lead from the opening stage. They dropped it only once, handing it to Mikkelsen and Fløene. They won nine of the 18 special stages, finishing in the top three on six of the remaining nine stages.

In total Volkswagen won 17 of the 18 special stages with the Polo R WRC, the German outfit’s duos occupying a total of 42 top-three positions over the course of the rally.

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It’s done it again. Volkswagen Motorsport has claimed its second World Rally Championship with the fearsome Polo R WRC in as many years*. It’s the fastest Manufacturers’ Championship title victory in 25 years, and was secured by a one-two-three podium at Rally Australia from 12-14 September.

Once again Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia took the spoils with a dominant drive. Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila came home second, while Andreas Mikkelsen and Ola Fløene followed behind.

It gets better. With only three rallies remaining in 2014, Ogier/Ingrassia and Latvala/Anttila are the only duos battling it out for the Drivers’ and Co-Drivers’ Championship title. Defending champions Ogier/Ingrassia are currently leading the standings, with a 50-point lead over their team-mates.

The French duo’s win was the 19th victory for the Polo R WRC in only its 23rd outing, while Latvala’s and Anttila’s second place gave the small car its 35th podium since its debut at the 2013 Rally Monte Carlo.

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In an almost repeat of 2013, Volkswagen Motorsport’s two top drivers spectacularly crashed out of the 2014 ADAC Rallye Deutschland (Rally Germany), which ran around the Trier vineyard region of the country from 21-24 August. Stages included the legendary ‘Panzerplatte’, ‘Dhrontal’ and ‘Grafschaft’.

2014 World Rally Championship leader Sébastien Ogier went off the road on Saturday, with the then rally leader Jari-Matti Latvala following suit the following day.

However, as consolation, the third Volkswagen Motorsport driver Andreas Mikkelsen finished the event on the bottom step of the podium.

Overall victory went to Hyundai Motorsport’s Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul driving an i20 WRC. The Belgians’ Spanish team-mates Dani Sordo and Marc Marti were one place behind them.

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Finally (or should that be Finn-ally)! Breaking a four-year non-Finnish win run, Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila reigned supreme at the 2014 Neste Oil Rally Finland, taking victory in their Volkswagen Polo R WRC.

The Finnish pairing won their home rally taking the victory all the way to the line, enduring a thrilling battle with team-mates Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia. The margin of victory? 3.6 seconds.

Latvala was dominant in the second day of the Finnish event, but suffered a setback in the afternoon. A large pothole damaged a brake line and his Polo R WRC had no braking on the front right-hand wheel, losing him and Anttila 27 seconds from his overall lead.

With a slimmed-down lead of just 3.4 seconds, the Finn summoned up tenacity and a determined spirit on the final day, demonstrating his driving skills to take a commanding victory.

But it was the tense and close duel between Latvala/Anttila and Ogier/Ingrassia which was the main story of Rally Finland, with 25 of the 26 possible best times being scored by one or the other of the two Volkswagen duos.

Only Citroën’s Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle managed to keep up with the Volkswagen pairs, finishing third.

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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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