Volkswagen Polo R takes maiden WRC win in Sweden

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Up and coming star Sébastien Ogier has clinched the Volkswagen Polo R’s first victory in the World Rally Championship (WRC) in Sweden, in what was only the team and car’s second competitive outing. Keeping semi-retired WRC legend Sébastien Loeb at bay the whole weekend, young Ogier now leads the Driver’s Championship going into the third round of the 2013 season in Mexico early next month.

Coming off an excellent second place finish in the Monte Carlo season opener, the #8 Volkswagen Polo R WRC dominated proceedings from the word go, sprinting into an early half-minute lead on the opening day. Ogier’s former teammate Loeb clawed back much of the deficit over the next few stages in his Citroën DS3 WRC, only to have a costly crash on the penultimate stage to finish 41.8 seconds behind in second place.

Mads Østberg in a Ford Fiesta RS WRC rounded up the podium while Jari-Matti Latvala driving the second Polo R WRC finished fourth. Ogier then won the bonus Power Stage from his Volkswagen teammate to gain three extra points to add to the 25 he received for winning Rally Sweden.

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The perfect 28-point haul brings his season tally to 46 points and he now sits at the head of the Driver’s Championship table, leading nine-time world champion Sébastien Loeb (Citroën) by three points. Loeb is only entering four events in this 13-round season, leaving Mads Østberg in third place (24 points) as Ogier’s closest championship rival.

Citroën however still heads the Manufacturer’s Championship from Volkswagen Motorsports by a slim two points, with the works Ford team a further 26 points behind.

Can future champion-elect Ogier keep up the pace to win it all in the Polo R WRC’s maiden season? Now that will be one hell of a success story.

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Hafriz Shah

Preferring to drive cars rather than desks, Hafriz Shah ditched his suit and tie to join the ranks of Malaysia’s motoring hacks. A car’s technical brilliance is completely lost on him, appreciating character-making quirks more. When not writing this ego trip of a bio, he’s usually off driving about aimlessly, preferably in a car with the right combination of three foot pedals and six gears.

 

Comments

  • alldisc™ on Feb 14, 2013 at 10:01 am

    finally…. a real contender to Sebastian Loeb’s amazing Citroen reign

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 5
    • AVH® on Feb 14, 2013 at 11:22 am

      Subaru is sweating in their knickers. Go VW. But solve your DSG problem also lah. Nearly all VW owners here visit the workshop too regularly trying to sort faulty DSG boxes.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 5
      • Polo R 1.2 on Feb 14, 2013 at 9:46 pm

        Sure or not? I own a Polo with DSG, never once needed to do anything with it..mileage already 40k
        Best gearbox ever!

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
      • Just Sensible on Feb 16, 2013 at 7:26 pm

        A must read, no wonder Toyota and Ford are worried ..

        http://www.cnbc.com/id/100449231

        Especially this part of the article from a Toyota executive ..

        “Even Toyota, the current global sales leader, is playing catch-up with its German rival.

        “There’s no doubt we have fallen behind,” says a senior Toyota executive who declined to be named because of the sensitive nature of the subject. “We have not even begun to make the fundamental structural changes that VW has” in designing and applying flexible vehicle platforms.”

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
      • danial on Feb 19, 2013 at 7:25 pm

        sorting faulty Dsg
        Gearbox?do you own one or not, or u r just a school boy not yet own a car?case of sour grape what?

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
    • Loeb is retiring. He’s not running the full season also. :)

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
      • alldisc™ on Feb 14, 2013 at 5:33 pm

        its better not to wait until someone beats you, right?

        loeb is finding good excuse for himself.

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • confused on Feb 14, 2013 at 10:42 am

    “works Ford team a further 26 points behind.”

    There’s no more Works Ford for 2013; only entry from M-Sport and several small team using the Ford machine.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 3
    • Hafriz Shah (Member) on Feb 14, 2013 at 11:11 am

      Yes technically there isn’t a works Ford team left, but the M-Sport guys have been running the factory-backed Ford entry in the WRC since 1997 so very little has changed. Essentially the chaps running the M-Sport team now are the same people from the official works Ford team of last year, including the team boss and drivers.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • amirad on Feb 14, 2013 at 11:23 am

    Go..go Ogier and Polo R. Its been quite sometime since I last follow WRC. My previous WRC idols were Colin McRae, Makinen and Solberg. How I longed to drive their machines (I mean the replicas) during those days. Now with VW in the WRC, I get to drive the lesser equivalent of polo R.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 1
  • Leonardo on Feb 14, 2013 at 12:50 pm

    Sebs Ogier was also previously with Citreon WRC team. Since his ‘quarrel’ with Sebs Loeb, he switched to Skoda in 2012 and then VW in 2013. He has the potential to become a WRC champion this year now that Loeb is only taking part in 4 WRC rallies after winning his 9th WRC Championship last year. An amazing feat, in my opinion, even overshadowing Schumy in F1. Time will tell if Ogier can match or beat the feat of his countryman, Leob.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • Paulz on Feb 14, 2013 at 2:04 pm

    In other news, PSA citroen peugeot recording 5 billion euro loss recently could hold Citroen n Peugeot rally development for next 2 years despite Peugeot sport Bruno claimed Peugeot will make a comeback to Wrc in 2015 after successfully developed 208 R2 and R5. Its a good thing that M-sport willing to committed to WRC longest running event since 97′.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • no good la dsg. my 4 at speed vios almost reach 600,000 km without any problem

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 1
  • no good la dsg. my 4 speed at vios almost reach 600,000 km without any problem

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 1
  • ea113 guy on Feb 16, 2013 at 9:37 pm

    My dsg have 70k miles without any problem except 1, addiction of me rev so high and flick the paddle to.make the dsg fart all over your face! So what’s the problem? Nothing…. Actually… Nothing…

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
 

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