Volkswagen Motorsport has announced that the Polo R WRCs of Sébastien Ogier and Andreas Mikkelsen will line up at the Fafe Rally Sprint on 6 April, ahead of Rally Portugal. An appetiser of the full Portugese WRC event which starts five days later, the 2013 sprint marks Volkswagen Motorsport’s debut at the run, which sees spectator numbers of 100,000 or more. The Fafe Rally Sprint marks Mikkelsen’s (along with co-driver Mikko Markkula’s) competitive debut in the Polo R WRC – the third car will be added to the squad from Rally Portugal for the rest of the season.
The 6.34km section of the ‘Lameirinha’ stage no longer officially forms part of the Rally Portugal, but will herald the start of the rally week. ‘We are really looking forward to lining up in Fafe for the first time,’ said Volkswagen Motorsport Director Jost Capito. ‘Sébastien and Julien will be in close contact with thousands of Portuguese fans at the “Rally Sprint”, and will be out to put on a good show for them. The event also offers Andreas and Mikko the opportunity to test the Polo R WRC under competitive conditions for the first time, and to familiarise themselves with the atmosphere before the pair make their WRC debut in the Polo R WRC the following week.’
The crowds in Fafe are in for a spectacular show. The WRC teams must battle their way through two qualifying rounds on the way to the final. The fastest time in the final wins the Fafe Rally Sprint. Another extremely popular feature with the fans is the competition to see who can remain airborne for the longest over one of the most challenging jumps in rallying. The record, which was set by Armin Schwarz in a Škoda Octavia WRC in 2000, currently stands at 73.5 metres.
A sign of things to come? Fresh from their victory at Rally Sweden in February, Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia took victory at the Rally Mexico yesterday, with a lead of three minutes and 28 seconds over Finnish pairing Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen. The Volkswagen Polo R WRC drivers scored a total of 16 stage wins to win the third round of the 2013 FIA World Rally Championship, with Ogier driving flat out to beat the chasing Citroën DS3 pairing. The Frenchman dominated the event from start to finish, and along with Ingrassia, won all but seven of the 23 special stages with his consistent speed.
Polo R WRC number 7 car driven by Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila didn’t fare so well, retiring from the event after hitting a rock just metres into the first special stage of day two. However, under Rally 2 regulations, the Finns were able to re-enter the event for Saturday and Sunday’s action. Finishing in the top three on six of the ten special stages, Latvala also managed to clock the third fastest time on the Power Stage, earning himself a bonus point towards the WRC rankings in the process.
It wasn’t always easy. With temperatures reaching around 30 degrees Celsius, the 395km Rally Mexico is littered with descents from altitudes as high as 2671 metres above sea level, challenging both the car and its driver. Brake fluid almost heated to boiling point, but the Polo R WRC put in a flawless performance, demonstrating its durability through the dust-lined and gravel-surfaced 23 stages. Volkswagen Motorsport states that Ogier and Ingrassia’s victory s also one for its engineers who prepared the cars especially and meticulously for the demanding event.
Surrounded in controversy, Ogier almost had an altercation too – a closed gate at the 32nd kilometre of the 18th stage, ‘Otates 2’, meant that he had to implement an emergency stop from full rally speed. Ingrassia then had to leap out of the car and open the gate before the two Frenchmen could continue on their way. Despite losing 37 seconds, Ogier’s time was still good enough to finish sixth fastest on the stage.
Ogier was euphoric with his win: ‘What a fantastic feeling. The Polo R WRC was perfect for every single minute of the Rally Mexico. I can only thank my team for that. This victory at our debut on gravel is very special and will always have a special place in my heart. We take every win as it comes. This morning I took an extremely cautious approach on the first special stage and steered around every stone. However, from midway through I put my foot down again. We obviously have a big lead now in the World Rally Championship, but there are still another ten rallies to come.’
Although his retirement prohibited him from coming in the top five, Latvala gained valuable Polo R WRC experience. ‘No sooner had the rally started than things took a turn for the worse for us. We had to give up after a matter of metres on Friday, due to suspension damage we received when we hit a stone. After that, we tried a few things with the car and I worked on my driving style. By the end of the rally, I felt more comfortable than ever in the Polo. I now have a better understanding of the handling characteristics. That gives me a lot of motivation ahead of Portugal. Winning a point on the Power Stage was a nice way to finish,‘ he said.
Jost Capito, Volkswagen Motorsport Director was pleased with the Polo R WRC’s gravel debut: ‘Never in our wildest dreams did we expect this kind of success at our very first gravel rally with the Polo R WRC. We prepared meticulously for the World Rally Championship, and left nothing to chance in the run up to the Rally Mexico. As such, the win in Mexico is a success for the entire team; mot only on-site, but also at home in Hannover and Wolfsburg. It is impossible to overrate Sébastien Ogier’s performance: the Ogier factor was what made the difference here. It allowed us to challenge for the win right from the word go. Jari-Matti Latvala’s performance was no less impressive. He was really unlucky right at the start of the rally, but fought back magnificently. The suspension damage he suffered has shown us that we can still improve the Polo R WRC.’
The fourth round of the 2013 FIA World Rally Championship will take place in Portugal from 11th to 14th April. Sébastien Ogier and Jari-Matti Latvala will be joined in the Volkswagen Motorsport team by Andreas Mikkelsen, who will also drive a Polo R WRC.
2013 FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP, RALLY MEXICO: FINAL RESULTS
1 Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (F/F), Volkswagen: 4h 30m 27s
2 Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen (FIN/FIN), Citroën + 3m 28.9s
3 Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul (B/B), Ford + 4m 23.8s
4 Dani Sordo/Carlos del Barrio (E/E), Citroën + 6m 06.7s
5 Nasser Al-Attiyah/Giovanni Bernacchini (Q/I), Ford + 8m 34.6s
2013 FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP, DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS
1 Sébastien Ogier: 74
2 Sébastien Loeb: 43
3 Mikko Hirvonen: 30
4 Dani Sordo: 27
5 Mads Østberg: 26
It’s getting to be a regular occurrence – Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia lead the Rally Mexico after the first full day’s competition. Ogier claimed seven special stage wins and collected nine of a possible 11 top three results on a day which saw the WRC teams drive a total of 160km against the stopwatch. In what also seems to be a familiar story Finns Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila were hit by misfortune, or rather a large rock 300m into the start of day two, breaking one of their Polo R WRC’s wishbones and forcing them out of the day’s action. The pair will rejoin the event under Rally 2 regulations, but they will be awarded a 50-minute time penalty for the stages which they did not complete.
‘That was the shortest stage I have ever driven. The dust from the previous car was still in the air, so vision was not great. 300 metres after the start we were rounding a right-hander when we came across a stone the size of a melon right on the racing line. As it was not possible to avoid the stone at the speed we were travelling, I tried to position it centrally between the two front wheels and line it up as well as possible with the underside protection. The impact was not particularly strong, but the stone damaged the right wishbone. It was just unlucky. The rock had probably been pulled out onto the road by one of the cars in front of us. We will start again tomorrow and will view the rally as a test and an opportunity to gain more experience in the Polo R WRC,’ said a disappointed Latvala.
Ogier was understandably more upbeat: ‘I am obviously very happy with today’s result. The special stages were not easy, with a lot of stones, loose gravel and little grip. The 30km on ‘El Chocolate’, in particular, were extremely demanding. That made it all the more pleasing that we had built up a small cushion by then. Everyone in the team is delighted that the Polo R WRC appears also to be quick on gravel. However, we have to bear in mind that there is still a long way to go at this rally, and the toughest stages are still ahead.’
The Rally Mexico got off to a rapturous start last night in Guanajuato, with two short spectator stages. The Volkswagen Motorsport rally team were given an enthusiastic welcome at the 1km-long ‘Guanajuato Street Stage’ and the cobblestone-lined ‘Parque Bicentenario’ special stage. Maybe not surprisingly, Ogier posted the fastest time to move into the lead as the Mexican carnival gets ready for the start of day two. Jari-Matti Latvala finished further down the field, but only 6.4 seconds behind his French team-mate.
Both Polo R WRCs qualified well on their first competitive outing on gravel – Ogier came in fifth on the 6.2km stage near León, while Latvala followed two places behind. Post-qualifying, Ogier selected a ninth-place start position for the first 13 special stages of the event, while Latvala chose seventh. Volkswagen Motorsport will run hard compound tyres on the Rally Mexico for the duration of the event, even though the softer variant promises faster qualifying times.
Ogier was far from thrilled with his qualifying session: ‘I am not happy with qualifying. We had the disadvantage of having to open the stage. We took the safe choice with the hard tyre compound. What we didn’t expect was that there would be quite such a big difference between the hard and the soft. Qualifying is very important here at the Rally Mexico, to give yourself a good starting position. We still have that. Our goal is to finish the rally and get a good result. Compared to our rivals, we have an extra set of fresh tyres to use on the special stages.’
Latvala was equally wary of the non-obvious tyre choice: ‘Obviously the soft tyres have produced the better times in qualifying, while we opted for the harder compound. At first glance, starting from seventh does not look ideal. However, we will have to wait and see how the rally pans out – it could ultimately be an advantage to have more hard tyres left. Our priority remains to use our first gravel rally to close the gap on our rivals in terms of experience with the Polo. We can only do that if we complete the full distance.’
Fresh from its victory at the Rally Sweden last month, the Polo R WRC makes its Mexican debut this week at Rally Mexico, which runs from 7-10 March. The third round of the World Rally Championship (WRC), the 315bhp four-wheel drive rally Polo will face altitudes of up to 2700m above sea level, and a loose gravel surface, neither of which it has faced before. The 395km of 23 special stages begin on Thursday with the Guanajuato Street Stage, at the site of former silver mine – now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. With shafts converted into roads, over 80,000 rally fans are expected to make the pilgrimage to see their WRC heroes.
With the altitudes come potential problems. As the air thins out the higher the cars climb, the 1.6-litre turbocharged engines lose between 28 and 30 per cent of their performance. The Volkswagen Motorsport engineers have prepared as well as possible for the demands of the high plains in the Sierra de Lobos, technologically helping the turbocharger from overheating –the key is to limit loss of performance without endangering the turbocharger’s stability.
Rally Sweden winner Sébastien Ogier (Polo R WRC #8), is looking forward to the event: ‘I was delighted with the win in Sweden. The way we presented ourselves as a team over the entire weekend was very impressive. However, that is yesterday’s news. For me personally, it is always very special to line up in Mexico. It was there that I drove my very first rally in the World Championship back in 2008 – and I promptly won my first race in the Junior WRC class. And, just like back then, we are now starting out on a new venture there with the Polo R WRC. Rally Mexico will give us our first true indication of how good the car is on a gravel surface.’
Jari-Matti Latvala (Polo R WRC #7), said: ‘One of the most important aspects of preparing for Mexico is how well you can cope with the time difference. If you have adapted to local time well, then your senses are sharper during the Recce. For this reason, I travel to California two weeks prior to the start, in order to acclimatise. We have to adapt in a lot of ways: unlike in Sweden, the grip level does not change as often on gravel. Despite all this, your concentration is really put to the test in Mexico.’
Meanwhile, Volkswagen Motorsport Director Jost Capito is excited about how the Polo R WRC will fare in the unknown conditions: ‘The thin air and temperatures of above 30 degrees have a real impact – on both driver and co-driver, as well as the technology. The Rally Mexico is also the first round of the season on gravel, and we are obviously very excited to see how competitive the Polo is in Mexico.’
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