In our biggest WRC gallery yet—there’s 88 photos in all—here’s your chance to relive Rally Australia. If you’re a Volkswagen fan this might be one to bookmark becuase for the first time in their WRC existence the German juggernaut claimed a clean sweep of all three podium positions.
Also taking a clean sweep were the photographers plying their trade down under. These are some of the best rally pics we’ve seen all year and we’re chuffed to be able to share them with you all.
Rallycross is a fast emerging category of motorsport. Volkswagen is taking it very seriously and will soon be competing with this 540hp+ GRC Beetle in the Red Bull Global Rallycross series. It has been developed in conjunction with Andretti Motorsport.
As you can see, we’re not talking about back yard operations here. These are some of the biggest players in world motorsport.
In this teaser video drift king Tanner Foust puts his skills to work, while the numbers do the talking. And they are impressive numbers too. Take a look at the clip and let us know what you think.
[Thanks to Adam for the tip]
Sebastien Ogier led a dominant Volkswagen team to victory at Rally Australia on the weekend. Volkswagen drivers filled all three podium steps in order of seniority, with Jari-Matti Latvala finishing just 6.8 seconds behind Ogier and Andreas Mikkelsen a bit over a minute further behind.
With that Volkswagen successfully defended its manufacturers championship and in record time too. There’s three rallies left in the season and with a 50 point lead Ogier is favourite to claim his second world championship, ahead of teammate Latvala.
On the forest tracks around Coffs Harbour Citroën driver Kris Meeke showed good early pace fighting for a podium position until a 61 second penalty was handed to him for cutting a corner illegally. That left him back in fifth battling with Ford’s Mikko Hirvonen, a three time winner down under.
Meeke’s pace was still strong and he was able to claim one position back by the end of the rally, finishing over eight seconds ahead of Hirvonen.
Kiwi driver Hayden Paddon continued his good efforts with Hyundai coming home in sixth place, his best WRC finish to date and one place ahead of team leader Thierry Neuville.
Australia’s Chris Atkinson finished tenth for Hyundai after finding conditions difficult on the first day.
“It’s not been the easiest of weekends as I struggled to get into a rhythm early on in the rally,” Atkinson said. “That has had a knock-on effect for the remaining days, as I was first on the road. That has dictated the extent I have been able to push so instead we just focused on finishing the rally. It’s nice we’ve been able to get all three cars inside the top ten.”
Volkswagen’s press release is available after the break and we’ll have a photo gallery for you later in the week.
WRC cars in aggressive tarmac trim, the stunning beauty of the Moselle Valley, as far as world class rallying goes, it doesn’t get much better than this.
So strap yourself in and enjoy reliving Thierry Neuville’s maiden WRC victory. There’s some awesome photos in our latest rally installment; we hope you’ll like them.
Here’s around four and a half minutes of world class rally action recorded during the weekend’s Rally Germany. The event saw Thierry Neuville notch his first win for himself and his Hyundai team.
We’ll have a photo gallery from the event online in the next few days, until then you ca enjoy this footage from Rallymedia.
The current trend from Euro car makers to create big power out of 2.0 litre turbocharged four cylinder engines could be showing the first real signs of stress. Last week we brought you news of a Mercedes-Benz A45 AMG on fire in Sydney and now there’s reports of turbo dramas affecting the latest range of Volkswagen Group hot hatches.
While the cause of the fire in that A45 AMG is yet to be established, getting 265kW from a 2.0 litre with such high boost has raised many eyebrows for those considering long-term reliability. That’s not to say it can’t be done, but a quick look at relevant forums will show there’s plenty of A45 owners with issues of varying types.
Similarly, the latest EA888 engine from the Volkswagen Group which is tuned to produce up to 221kW and used in the Audi S3, Seat Lean Cupra 280 and Volkswagen Golf R is attracting a number of complaints, mostly to do with turbo failure.
According to an article published by Motor Authority the part number of the faulty turbo is 06K 145 702 N which they report is made by IHI Turbo. The relevant engine codes are CJXB and CJXC.
Motor Authority’s investigations point to a production fault for turbos made between April and May 2014, where there is a fault with the manifold sealing surface. Outside of this date range some owners of 2013 S3s are also reporting similar problems.
It’s been suggested Audi will be fitting a new turbo design for future S3s and has in turn delayed the launch of the TTS until the problem has been satisfactorily resolved.
Which begs the question, is the Mercedes v Volkswagen four-cylinder war one that is really worth winning?
[Source: Motor Authority | Thanks to Wayne for the tip]
It seems to be the year of winning your home event. Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg won their home grands prix in Formula 1. Now it’s Jari-Matti Latvala’s turn and he got to spray the champagne first after he won Rally Finland.
Sebastien Ogier will be hoping he can do the same when Rally France rolls around in October. He might just need to as well. Ogier is still very much the man to catch, with a 44 point lead over Latvala, but there’s still five rallies up for grabs.
After the break there’s over 70 images from the Finnish forests and, of course, plenty of spectacular “yumps”!
Jari-Matti Latvala has kept his faint WRC title hopes alive by scoring a hugely popular victory in Rally Finland. His 3.6 second winning margin over defending champ Sebastien Ogier doesn’t tell the full story. Ogier himself had to fight for P2 after Kris Meeke was very fast early and delivered on his undoubted potential to claim a rare podium for Citroën.
Local hero Latvala dominated the early and middle stages of the rally until a brake issue caused him to slow late on day two. Ogier, having just claimed P2 from Meeke, was able to close up on Latvala to bring the deficit to less than four seconds going into the final day.
Latvala was able to hold his nerve on the final day and even though he was second in the final power stage, only 0.1s behind Ogier, he showcased his driving style during the live televised stage with a masterful display. He was blindingly fast and in complete control at all times.
“This win in Finland is a very special moment for Miikka and me,” Latvala said afterwards. “We last managed to do this in 2010, and this win feels twice as good considering our disappointing result last year.
“I had a good feeling in the Polo R WRC right from the start of the rally, and the car was set up perfectly once again. So a big thank-you to my team for their excellent work. And I would, of course, also like to thank all the fans who supported Miikka and me throughout the rally here in Finland.
“This win was a tough cookie, though. We were in a bit of a predicament on Saturday evening when we were no longer able to use one of our brakes. Nevertheless, we didn’t give up and we kept on fighting. I’m really very happy about this result.”
He’s a likeable guy Latvala, who always speaks passionately and enthusiastically. This would have been a popular win regardless of the fact it was his home race. Add the overjoyed local crowd into the mix and the parties went long into the night.
The win is the eleventh of Latvala’s WRC career and he closes the gap slightly to Ogier, who is 44 points ahead with five rallies left to run. Volkswagen now has a remarkable 175 point lead in the manufacturers’ standings, ahead of Citroën.
While it’s true we have missed out on regular WRC updates you haven’t missed out on anything you couldn’t have guessed for yourself. And that’s Sebastien Ogier has won another rally and is well on the way to his second world championship.
Also happy with his time in Poland was junior Volkswagen driver Andreas Mikkelesen who achieved his best WRC result to date. It was good to see Thierry Nueville at the somewhat pointy end, too. Let’s hope Hyundai can figure more prominently in the second half of the season.
Ogier leads Jari-Matti Latvala by 50 points in the title race. And if you were in any doubt about Volkswagen’s current WRC dominance then consider that Latvala, only in second in the championship, has enough points on his own to lead the manufacturers’ standings.
So now you’re up to speed on where the WRC is at and we promise you won’t have to wait over a month for a Rally Finland update!
You may have noticed our WRC coverage has dropped off the radar for a bit, well in a mad panic before this weekend’s Rally Finland we’re going to bring you back up to speed. First, let’s take a look at Rally Italia, where we have assembled over 75 images from the four major teams for you to enjoy.
Sebastien Ogier won in Italy, extending his championship lead to 33 points over his Volkswagen teammate Jari-Matti Latvala. You may also recall this was the rally where Mikko Hirvonen’s backside got a bit hot.
Suddenly last week’s story that the Volkswagen Group could rebrand itself as Auto Union now makes a lot more sense. Automotive News reports Volkswagen is considering a takeover of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA). It’s a move that’s been largely interpreted as means for Ferdinand Piech to achieve his aim of making the Volkswagen Group the world’s largest automaker.
If the Volkswagen Group did add FCA to its portfolio of automotive brands that would take it well beyond the reach of Toyota and General Motors as the highest selling car maker on the planet. Volkswagen Group could claim 14 million annual sales, around four million ahead of Toyota and GM.
German publication Manager Magazin first broke the news that representatives from the Volkswagen Group and FCA boards have met to discuss Volkswagen’s buy-in, although both companies deny any discussions have taken place. It’s thought that Piech has approached the Agnelli-Elkann family to acquire its 30% stake in FCA.
Previously, Volkswagen sources have coveted the Alfa Romeo brand. Under the watch of Sergio Marchionne and through the FCA agreement Alfa is enjoying a resurgence. On the back of the 4C the brand has recently relaunched in the United States after an absence of almost 20 years.
Other major brands under the Fiat-Chrysler umbrella include Dodge, Ferrari, Jeep, Lancia and Maserati. The addition of Jeep to the Volkswagen Group would help it quench the world’s insatiable thirst for SUVs.
Clearly, there’s a long way to go for this deal to take place, if it ever will. It’s expected the 30% share in FCA would be valued between US$5–6 billion. As it happens Volkswagen Group has a lazy US$24–25 billion in cash reserves up its sleeve.
If this VW-Fiat-Chrysler deal goes ahead then rebranding the entire group as Auto Union makes absolute sense. The Auto Union changes may still go ahead irrespective of the FCA deal. Taking a big picture view, though, Auto Union becoming known as the world’s largest car maker sits perfectly with Piech’s grand plan.
[Source: Automotive News | Pic: Raoul Pop]
Here’s a rumour from GoAuto that has grabbed our interest, according to its report Volkswagen Group is considering a name change to Auto Union.
A possible theory for the change would be to establish a greater sense of independence for each of the brands under Volkswagen’s control, by removing the Volkswagen name from the umbrella company.
Volkswagen Group controls or owns outright the following marques: Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Ducati, Lamborghini, MAN, Porsche, Scania, Seat, Skoda, Volkswagen and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles. In addition, the group is also the largest shareholder in Suzuki, with a 20% share.
Auto Union is not a new name in the motoring world and was the precursor to what we now know as Audi. Originally formed in 1932 and consisting of four companies—Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer—Auto Union was essentially dissolved by the Soviets after WWII.
However, soon after, in 1949, Auto Union came back to life building two-stroke DKWs. Daimler-Benz took a majority shareholding in 1958 and saw a return of the Auto Union brand and investment in the company’s Ingolstadt factory.
In 1964 Daimler-Benz began to offload its shares and later that year Volkswagen assumed control after it bought the rights to the Auto Union name and the Ingolstadt site. The Audi brand was revived in 1965 and remains as the sole survivor from those Auto Union days.
[Source: GoAuto | Pic: CarType/John Lloyd]