We’re just three races into the 2015 WRC season and dual world champion Sebastien Ogier already has a commanding lead in the drivers’ championship. Here’s a pictorial look back at how he conquered the dust and gravel in Rally Mexico.
It’s okay, unlike Sebastien, we give all of his main rivals equal time in the spotlight too. Enjoy the pics!
It’s time to dust off your sombrero and grab a Corona from the fridge because Sebastien Ogier has won Rally Mexico for the third year in a row.
Before the event the reigning world champion said it would be difficult to manage a podium finish due to regulations seeing him running first on the road, sweeping the dust and gravel aside for his following opponents. And yet, in the end, the Volkswagen ace won the event by almost 1 minute and 20 seconds from Citroën’s Mads Ostberg.
“Absolutely incredible! I am so happy and proud of this victory in Mexico,” Ogier said after his third win from three starts in 2015. “It is one of the best wins of my career. Julien and I had a perfect weekend, the Polo was fantastic, and the team did a magnificent job.
“We pushed like crazy from the word go in the cockpit, came up with the cleverest tyre selection on Friday—and were rewarded in the end.
“It is my third win in a row here. The Rally Mexico seems to be kind to me. And I love coming here. The route suits me, the countryside is fantastic, and the fans make the rally a great fiesta every year.”
Andreas Mikkelsen moved up to second in the championship standings thanks to his third place on a weekend where many front runners had problems.
Kris Meeke crashed out. Jari-Matti Latvala crashed out. And so did Thierry Neuville.
The most spectacular incident was when Ott Tanak gently rolled into a lake. That in itself wasn’t so bad, it was the sight of his Ford Fiesta RS WRC sinking and the subsequent footage of he and co-driver Raigo Molder swimming to safety that grabbed the headlines. We’ll have more on that later.
In the meantime Ogier now enjoys a 34 point lead in the drivers’ championship and appears well on the way to a third straight title. The WRC returns in mid-April for Rally Argentina.
Well, whaddya know, time flies when you’re having fun and Rally Mexico is almost upon us. By the barest of margins here’s your chance to check out the ice cool pics from Rally Sweden, which was one of the most exciting WRC events we’ve ever seen.
Let’s hope Rally Mexico provides as much entertainment and another chance to look at those silly hats!
Sebastien Ogier won Rally Sweden on the weekend, but this was not just any rally win. It was one of the most exciting finales to a WRC event we have been lucky enough to see. And the final deciding stage was live on television.
Going into the last special stage, a power stage offering bonus championship points, Andreas Mikkelsen held a narrow lead from Sebastien Ogier and Thierry Neuville. All three drivers had led the rally at various stages over the weekend.
Neuville was the first of the three leaders to go and did his part by setting the fastest time, more than five seconds faster than Mads Ostebrg’s previous best. Next was Ogier and in that 16km final stage we saw what he is made of. The dual world champion was blistering and went 4.8 seconds faster than Neuville. Wow!
The pressure was on the young shoulders of Andreas Mikkelsen, could he defend his lead and claim his maiden WRC victory?
Alas for the 25-year-old Norwegian he made a small mistake about two-thirds the way through the stage. Like many before him during this event, he ran a fraction wide on a corner and was sucked into one of the soft snow banks. There was no damage to his car, but the 40 seconds he lost relegated him back to third place, behind Neuville and eventual winner Ogier. It was a cruel blow and ended hopes for what would have been a very popular win.
With his second win from two races Ogier is already building a sizeable gap in the championship; he has 53 points and leads Mikkelsen and Neuville, both on 30 points.
The next rally will take place in Mexico in around three weeks from now.
The Volkswagen Polo R WRC may have a new look but it’s still the dominant force in world rallying as the team’s record-breaking clean sweep of the podium at the Rallye Monte Carlo proved.
Sebastien Ogier again showed he will be the man to beat in 2015, taking victory by almost one minute ahead of Jari-Matti Latvala. While Andreas Mikkelsen finished third to make it a perfect result for Volkswagen.
In his one-off appearance for Citroën nine-time world champion Sebastien Loeb showed the world he still has blistering pace. Loeb set the scene by going fastest on the opening stage and taking the lead of the rally. He stayed there until SS7 when Ogier fought his way in front.
Loeb’s chances of victory ended after he hit a rock on SS8, which forced him out for the day. He rejoined under Rally 2 regs and fought back to finish eighth overall. The French maestro also won more special stages than any driver during the event.
Mads Ostberg finished fourth for Citroën. Hyundai’s best result came from Thierry Neuville and Dani Sordo, who finished fifth and sixth respectively. While Elfyn Evans was the best placed Ford driver in P7.
Rally Sweden is next up, taking place in mid-February.
Volkswagen Motorsport has announced it will retain the services of its current driver lineup into the 2015 WRC season.
Sebastien Ogier, Jari-Matti Latvala and Andreas Mikkelsen currently fill the first three positions in the chase for the drivers’ championship; Ogier needs to score only a single point more than Latvala in this weekend’s Rally Spain to successfully defend his world title. Between them they’ve accumulated 38 podiums, including 20 wins, from the 24 rallies Volkswagen has competed in.
Reading the quotes from the drivers below it’s just one big love in at Volkswagen, which is both a sign of great team harmony and that maybe WRC egos are more congenial than those found inf Formula 1.
The talents of Ogier and Latvala are well known, so in 2015 Andreas Mikkelsen will be the driver to watch, we think. His results are becoming more consistent as he gains experience and a maiden WRC win cannot be too far away.
It’s been a massive weekend of motorsport. We’ve had the Bathurst 1000, the 6 Hours of Fuji and the Russian Grand Prix is currently sending the world to sleep. So if you’re still awake take this chance to relive the 2014 Rally de France-Alsace, won by Volkswagen’s Jari-Matti Latvala.
Jari-Matti Latvala won his first tarmac rally after claiming Rally de France-Alsace on the weekend. It’s his 12th WRC victory and, amazingly, it’s the 20th win from 24 starts for the Volkswagen Polo R WRC.
Following the demise of Sebastien Ogier’s chances on the opening day due to a faulty gearbox sensor, Latvala dominated the rally, despite early competiton from his junior Volkswagen teammate Andreas Mikkelsen.
In the end, a self-assured Latvala won by almost 45 seconds from Mikkelsen. Kris Meeke added to his resumé and 2015 employment chances by finishing third for Citroën. Dani Sordo was the best placed Hyundai in fourth, while Ford’s best result was the P5 claimed by Mikko Hirvonen.
Robert Kubica was sitting pretty, heading for fourth on the last day. It would have been his best WRC result, but he crashed out once again.
Ogier finished a lowly thirteenth but he did manage to earn himself maximum bonus points in the power stage. Although that wasn’t enough to wrap up his second world drivers’ title. He’ll have to wait for Rally Spain later this month, where he’ll need to earn one more point than Latvala to secure the championship.
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.
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.
Jari-Matti Latvala took a peek around the shadow of Sebastien Ogier by winning Rally Sweden on the weekend. It was a dominant result for Volkswagen with rising star Andreas Mikkelsen claiming second and his first WRC podium result.
Defending Rally Sweden winner Ogier gave Volkswagen cause to hope for a clean sweep of the podium when he led the rally in its early stages. An uncharacteristic and simple mistake saw the world champion run wide on a corner into a soft snow bank. No damage was done to him or the car, but his victory chances were shot after taking four and half minutes to get back on course. The best he could manage was a climb back to sixth position.
Mads Ostberg was happy to pick up Ogier’s slack and did so by coming home in third, his first podium result for Citroën. The Norwegian stepped up to take maximum points in the power stage as well.
In fourth place was Mikko Hirvonen who was almost on the pace but not quite in the Fiesta RS WRC. He’ll be happy to lock away some good championship points. Something his teammate Elfyn Evans wasn’t able to do. The Welshman’s inexperience showed in Sweden, although he was heading for a top 10 finish until a late off pushed him out of points contention.
Kris Meeke, who did so well in the very difficult conditions in Monte Carlo, was one of many drivers to succumb to Sweden’s snow banks and he finished in P10, more than 11 minutes behind Latvala.
The raw pace of Robert Kubica can’t be denied, but his propensity to find trouble where others don’t must be starting to become a concern. It’s true that conditions found in Sweden are never likely to be his favourite, but he had a tough time all the same and finished a lowly 24th more than 36 minutes off the pace.
And then we get to Hyundai who endured another trying weekend. Thierry Neuville was joined by Juho Hanninen for driving duties at this event and both were putting in respectable performances running comfortably in the top 10. On Day 2 both drivers clipped rocks on the apex of a corner which put them out of contention for the day. Neither driver was out of shape prior to their respective incidents, it was just bad luck for both.
The Hyundais resumed under Rally 2 conditions on the final day and were able to chalk up some good experience. Hanninen’s 36m leap was enough to win the prize for the Colin’s Crest longest jump. Ogier managed a record 41m jump later in the day, but it wasn’t eligible for the prize as it wasn’t on his first run.
Latvala now leads the championship from Ogier and Ostberg. It was at this event in 2013 that Ogier took the lead in the world championship and he hadn’t relinquished the top position until now.
Rally Mexico is the next rally on the calendar, taking place in early March. Chris Atkinson will get his turn in the Hyundai i20 WRC and will be hoping he has more luck than his teammates have experienced so far in 2014.
More after the break.