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With the 2012 FIA World Rally Championship now at a close, it was a mixed last round for Volkswagen Motorsport’s pair of Škoda Fabia S2000s. Rally Spain (8-11 November) saw a retirement at the end of the first day for Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia, while Intercontinental Rally Challenge champion Andreas Mikkelsen and his co-driver Ola Fløene finished 21st after day one’s stages due to an accident. Following the cermonial start in Barcelona, slippery conditions on gravel and tarmac made life difficult for the drivers, but both Ogier and Mikkelsen admirably closed the gap between their S2000 cars and the more powerful WRC racers.

Volkswagen Motorsport then started to run out of luck. Ogier and Ingrassia’s bonnet lifted, losing them time, and shortly afterwards Mikkelsen and Fløene were struck by Petter Solberg and Thierry Neuville, damaging their suspension. Just after the start of Special Stage 6, Ogier and Ingrassia had to retire due to a drivetrain fault, and although Mikkelsen and Fløene completed the event to Rally 2 regulations, they did gather valuable experience for 2013. Although their rally pairing ended this season, Mikkelsen hopes to be named the third Polo driver for Volkswagen Motorsport’s assault on the 2013 WRC rounds, alongside Ogier and Finn Jari-Matti Latvala.

‘At “Monte” at the beginning of the year we crashed, and now at the season finale we have had technical problems. Other than that, the season went superbly,’ said Ogier, expressing his satisfaction with his first year for Volkswagen. ‘And, honestly speaking, I’m also proud of ten class victories. Whenever we saw the finish we were the quickest S2000 car. But I’m also glad that the year of transition is over. Now I’m incredibly excited about the beginning of the hot phase with the Polo R WRC – and about being able to compete with the top-flight drivers again at Rallye Monte Carlo.’

Volkswagen Junior Andreas Mikkelsen assessed the season in a positive light as well. ‘For me, it’s been a brilliant year. Of course I’m proud to be the first driver in history to have defended my IRC title,’ says the pleased Norwegian. ‘And the year with Volkswagen was enormously important for me, too. Driving in such a large team and getting to know the processes was completely new to me. I’m happy that I received good feedback from the team and very much hope to become the third Volkswagen WRC driver next year.’

Before the start of the ‘Monte’, the Volkswagen Motorsport team will head to Mexico, France and Sweden to push the Polo R WRC still further. The 300bhp, four-wheel drive, 1.6-litre rally car will make its much-aniticipated and long-awaited competitive debut on the Rallye Monte Carlo on 15 January 2013. All eyes will, finally, be watching it.

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Volkswagen Motorsport once again took to the rally stages on the Rally Italia Sardegna on 18-21 October, and once again Sébastien Ogier turned the tables on the established WRC competition in his Škoda Fabia S2000. Outperforming the entire group of the WRC competitors on the fifth special stage with a time of 10m 16.1s, Ogier, along with co-driver Julien Ingrassia, finished in fifth place overall in Sardinia, as well as claiming the best position to have ever been achieved by an S2000-class car on an FIA World Rally Championship event.

‘All the teams had opted for soft tyres in the morning. Before starting on the special stage I noticed that the tyres of the WRC cars had already heavily worn – I knew that this was the chance of clinching a very good result. I tried to take it easy on my tyres while being as fast as possible,’ revealed Ogier. The 28-year-old continued to maintain a fast pace and from the eighth to the eleventh special stage, was running in fourth place among the more powerful WRC competitors. After having dropped to sixth place in-between, Ogier launched a final attack on Saturday afternoon and on the 14th special stage took position five.

The French duo’s team mates Andreas Mikkelsen and Ola Fløene completed the strong Volkswagen Motorsport performance on the Costa Smeralda by taking seventh place, scoring WRC points for the second time in 2012. ‘An outstanding showing by Sébastien underlines his class as a driver and his cleverness. He recognised the situation that the tracks in Sardinia at times put a very heavy strain on the tyres and made perfect use of it. The engineers and mechanics also provided both driver pairings with perfect cars through the entire rally,’ said an enthused and very pleased Volkswagen Motorsport Director Jost Capito.

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It was widely expected in WRC circles, and this morning Volkswagen Motorsport confirmed the rumours by announcing the signing of Jari-Matti Latvala to its 2013 Polo R WRC campaign. The 27 year-old Finn comes complete with his co-driver Miika Anttila and both will be on the starting line on the Rallye Monte Carlo on 15-20 January 2013, along with Frenchmen Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia. The Finn goes to Volkswagen after five years at Ford (both it and Mini have withdrawn WRC works teams for 2013).

Latvala is both quick and experienced, according to Volkswagen Motorsport, and has seven WRC victories to his name. Finishing world champion runner-up in 2010, he was the youngest rally winner in WRC history, following his first success in two years before. ‘We’re proud and pleased to have gained Jari-Matti Latvala for our World Rally Championship project. He’s a true reinforcement for our team,’ said Volkswagen Motorsport Director Jost Capito. ‘In Sébastien Ogier and Jari-Matti Latvala we’ve got an excellent top-flight driver line-up for the debut of the Polo R WRC in the 2013 World Rally Championship.’

‘I’m very happy to be driving the Polo R WRC in the 2013 World Rally Championship. The determined approach of the Volkswagen team convinced me to accept this challenge,’ said Latvala. ‘My time at Ford was very valuable and I would like to thank everyone who supported me there in the past years – it wasn’t easy for me to say goodbye. At the same time, I see the change as a personal new beginning. I’ve taken this decision in order to make another step towards reaching my big aim: the world champion’s title with VW.’

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Former Rally World Champion and Dakar winner Carlos Sainz thrilled a turnout of 60,000 spectators at the Rallylegend San Marino over the weekend. Reuniting with his co-driver Luis Moya, the pair piloted the Polo R WRC which served as the course car on the Republic of San Marino event. Spaniard Sainz performed spectacular jumps and wide drifts on the tarmac event, which featured over 200 participants over the 220km, multi-stage course. Other former World Rally Champions and legendary motorsport drivers taking part included Björn Waldegard, Juha Kankkunen, Harald Demuth, Per Eklund, Sandro Munari plus Volkswagen representative Jacky Ickx. Testing of the Polo R WRC ahead of its 2013 competitive debut continues with runs on the Panzerplatte in Germany near Baumholder.

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Following last month’s successful outing at Rally GB, the Volkswagen Motorsport team once again had put in a strong showing at Rally France on 4-7 October. Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia took another Super 2000 (S2000) class win, while team mates Andreas Mikkelsen and Ola Fløene scored fastest times on six of the rally’s stages. The pair of Škoda Fabias took positions 11 and 12 in the overall finishing classifications.

The Volkswagen drivers fought fiercely close battles on Thursday’s tarmac stages in Strasbourg, where a wet surface made choosing the right tyres tricky. By the end of the seven stages, Ogier and Mikkelsen were just five seconds apart. They continued their close duel on Saturday’s dry stages until the young Norwegian struggled with an engine misfire due to a defective injector, losing more than two minutes to Ogier.

Last year’s winner and Frenchman Ogier assessed the event positively: ‘It was a good home rally for us. This year, we weren’t able to battle for overall victory because it was about gathering as much experience as possible. The conditions were changeable but good to drive on the whole,’ commented the 29 year-old. More than 300,000 spectators lined the roads in Alsace, to watch the Volkswagen Motorsport team gather crucial data for the 2013 season, when the concern will be fielding the newly-developed 300bhp Polo R WRC rally car.

‘I’m very happy with the entire squad. We finished this rally with a strong performance in class and smooth operations in service as planned. The changeable weather was probably anything but inviting for the large crowd of enthusiastic spectators but good practice for us,’ said Volkswagen Motorsport Director Jost Capito. ‘Congratulations to Sébastien Loeb and the Citroën team on winning the World Champion’s title for a record ninth time. We’re very much looking forward to competing against this strong squad next year with the Polo R WRC.’

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