Volkswagen enjoyed a perfect opening day at its home round of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC). All eight stage wins on day one of the Rally Germany went to drivers at the wheel of a Polo R WRC, as did all but one of the top-three positions.
Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (F/F), Jari-Matti Latvala (FIN/FIN) and Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Fløene (N/N) occupy the top three positions after one third of round nine of the season.
With two days remaining, VW has a comfortable advantage over the rest of the field. However, the action on the demanding vineyard stages around Trier was far from drab: for vast stretches there was nothing in it between Ogier and Latvala, as they battled it out for the lead. At one point, the two Volkswagen drivers were separated by just one tenth of a second. After 136.30 of 374.43 kilometers against the clock, and an afternoon surge from world champion Ogier, just 9.5 seconds separate the top two in the World Championship. Andreas Mikkelsen trails the leading duo by just 25.4 seconds, but is in third place, over half a minute ahead of his closest rival.
This season, it has become a tradition for the rear of the three Polo R WRCs to bear a new message at each rally. Not so for Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila, however. Following their victory at the Rally Finland, Latvala, Anttila and engineer Fabrice van Ertvelde insisted on keeping the “#SiSu” that was emblazoned across the rear spoiler when they clinched their second home win in a row.
The Finnish word, which can be translated as “strength”, “stamina”, “determination” and “fighting spirit”, is making its second appearance on the number 2 World Rally Car in Germany. VW said there was little resistance from within the team – why change something that worked so successfully at the team’s first home race?
