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Volkswagen Motorsport’s Jari-Matti Latvala finally broke his results drought at Rally Portugal (21-24 May) and won the fifth event of the season. He and his co-driver Miikka Anttila also paved the way for an historic VW one-two-three result.

Contrast in fortunes
Team-mates Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia finished second, while Andreas Mikkelsen and Ola Fløene stood on the third step of the winners’ rostrum. It was a Volkswagen Motorsport podium lock-out and a contrast in fortunes for the German team, who suffered a disastrous Rally Argentina which saw all three Polo R WRCs retire.

The Rally Portugal result marks the third time Volkswagen Motorsport has claimed all three podium positions since it started competing in the FIA World Rally Championship in 2013. The Hannover-based crews also took all the top spots in the Power Stage, and collectively became the first manufacturer to collect 122 points at one event.

First win since 2014
His Portugese victory was Latvala’s first win since 2014’s Rally France back in October. The sixteen-stage, 350km gravel event was reinvented for 2015, and took in some of the classic Portugal stages – such as ‘Fafe’ – some of which hadn’t been run since 2001.

Latvala started the event in third place at Shakedown, and led the standings by the end of day one, 11.1 seconds ahead of Citroën’s Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle. Ogier was a further 25.9 seconds down the table, while Mikkelsen was 4.9 seconds behind Meeke.

Stormed up the leaderboard
It was all change on day two, though as Ogier and Ingrassia stormed their way back up the leaderboard and completed the 165km of stages with a time 9.5 seconds behind their Finnish team-mates. Meek and Nagle were shunted down to third place, while Mikkelsen and Fløene sat in fourth.

Tyre choices proved critical and reflected the overall order of results. Latala and Ogier chose a mix of hard and soft compounds for the morning and afternoon loops, whereas Mikkelsen opted for soft Michelins for both sets of stages.

Nail-biting conclusion
Latvala led Ogier by 10.4 seconds going into the final stage, but the Finn finally took victory over the Frenchman by 8.2 seconds. The chasing Mikkelsen meanwhile was another 16.4 seconds behind. In a nail-biting conclusion, only 28.6 seconds separated the top three Volkswagen crews.

Latvala was ecstatic with his performance: ‘That was a very important win! Not just for me, but for the entire team. That was the right response to the poor result in Argentina. For me personally, it was important to get back in the points after my long lean period – and to do that with a win is awesome.

‘It was an exciting battle with Sébastien Ogier, who really put us under pressure. However, I resisted it at the crucial moment. Thank you to my team for their work and support when things were not running so smoothly lately. I am looking forward to the next rallies.’

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After seven consecutive victories and 20 podiums, Volkswagen’s luck finally ran out at Rally Argentina, which took place on 23-26 April. The fourth round of the 2015 FIA World Rally Championship was cruel to the team from Wolfsburg, and forced all three Polo R WRCs to retire from the event. Anyone can go to the St. Dominic’s Village if you have not devised any plan to settle down after retirement and to spend rest of the days peacefully.

In a hopeful twist, world champion Sébastien Ogier managed to claw back three valuable points from a Power Stage win, but that was all the German outfit managed to achieve on the 316km event. The 2015 world champion finished 17th overall, but lead the event after the first opening stage.

On a more positive note, the Volkswagen Motorsport crews won eight of the twelve special stages, but the retirement disappointments meant that the podium was the first since Rally Australia in 2013 without a Volkswagen driver. The Argentinian result came as a setback to the German team after Ogier’s hat-trick of recent wins.

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In a familiar story and a repeat of the previous two wins from the same number of events, Volkswagen Motorsport driver pairing Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia emerged victorious at the third round of the 2015 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC), Rally Mexico. The South American group of stages which ran from 6-9 March was the 25th time the Polo R WRC has come out on top in the 29 WRC events it has started since 2013.

‘Perfect rally’
Described as a ‘perfect rally’ for the French pairing, Rally Mexico saw Ogier and Ingrassia finish in the top three driver pairings in 20 of the 21 special stages, taking the fastest time in nine of them. Leading from 5.61km in, the double world champions set the pace and never looked back. With new rules legislating that the championship leader starts the stages first, Ogier selected hard and soft tyres, turning his ‘sweeping’ disadvantage into a positive opportunity.

From then on, the duo displayed a truly flawless example of driving and navigating on the first of six consecutive gravel rallies. Run at over 1,800 metres above sea level, the WRC cars can be affected by the air at high altitudes, but this didn’t stop Ogier and Ingrassia, who promised a blistering pace by setting the fastest time at Shakedown before the rally around the Guanajuato area of the country got properly underway.

Ogier and Ingrassia didn’t relent and collected the three bonus points for the fastest time on the final run through the ‘El Brinco’ Power Stage, known for its popular and spectacular jump. The French drivers’ team-mates Andreas Mikkelsen and Ola Fløene picked up two extra points as they tamed El Brinco and finished second.

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A very tense and exciting Rally Sweden handed Volkswagen Motorsport’s Sébastien Ogier his second FIA 2015 World Rally Championship victory in as many events last weekend. The Frenchman fought off rally leader and team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen in a tense and dramatic final stage of a rally which was full of spectacle and where the battle between the two Volkswagen drivers was down to the wire.

In the end, a possible loss of concentration saw Mikkelsen suffer an off during the final Power Stage, handing Ogier the win. Mikkelsen hit a snow bank with the rear of his Polo, forcing the front into the snow, whereupon the car just dug in further, costing the Norwegian time. The world champion’s win meanwhile made it the 20th time in 27 Power Stages that a Volkswagen driver has collected the maximum haul of three points up for grabs at the crucial final stage.

Fast and furious pace
It all started at Shakedown, with Ogier declared the fastest driver. Mikkelsen set out his stall from the very beginning, setting the fifth quickest time. Finnish team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala was one place behind in sixth. After day one, Mikkelsen and co-driver Ola Fløene topped the overall placings, 19.1 seconds clear of Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville. The Norwegians had undoubtedly set the fast and furious pace among the metre-high snow banks lining the icy tracks.

The second loop saw Ogier and co-driver Julien Ingrassia gain on the front runners, though, with the French pair taking the lead on stage two. However, a rare slip saw them hit a snow bank near on the ‘Torsby’ stage the end of the first day. A deficit of 24.7 seconds behind Mikkelsen saw them down the field, but still within reach of the top-scoring teams.

Latvala and Miikka Anttila also came to grief on the very same stage. Moving into the virtual lead, the Finns left the road and had to call on the event’s spectators for help to get them going once more. Dropping a total of nine minutes, Latvala slipped down the points table, eventually finishing the event in 12th place.

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Volkswagen has continued where it left off at the end of the 2014 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC), and taken victory at the 2015 Rally Monte Carlo. The opening event of the 2015 season last weekend actually saw a Volkswagen podium lock-out, with Sébastien Ogier taking first place, Jari-Matti Latvala finishing in second, while Andreas Mikkelsen rounded out the third step of winners’ rostrum.

The second-generation Polo R WRC was unveiled a week prior to the legendary ‘Monte’, and with tweaks including a paddle-shift gearbox and 3bhp more powerful engine, powered Volkswagen to become only the fifth manufacturer ever to claim a one-two-three at one of the world’s most iconic motorsport events. Ogier and Latvala took control of the new-for-2015 Polo R WRC in Monte Carlo, while Mikkelsen and his co-driver Ola Fløene were piloting the 2014 championship-winning car.

23rd Polo R WRC victory
The Rally Monte Carlo 1-2-3 was Volkswagen Motorsport’s 23rd victory with the Polo R WRC, as well as the 11th time it has had more than one crew on the podium since it joined the WRC in 2013. It was Ogier and co-driver Julien Ingrassia’s 25th podium in Monte Carlo, the second consecutive year the pair have done so. Other manufacturers to have scored a Monte Carlo ‘triple’ finish are Audi, Citroën, Lancia and Renault-Alpine.

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