PoloDriver

Henk Lategan and Barry White were the highest-placed Volkswagen Sasolracing finishers at the Imperial Toyota Cullinan Rally which took place over 15-16 August. The pair took their Polo S2000 to a fourth place result after two days of dusty competition during the 12-stage fifth round of the South African National Rally Championship.

The Polo duo endured a tough first day, running at the front of the field and sweeping the stages clear for their rivals. But day two was much better and Lategan and White – fifth in the overall championship – became progressively faster, winning the final stage of the day.

Team-mates Gugu Zulu and Carl Peskin suffered numerous punctures, which slowed their progress over the whole rally. ‘This event was very frustrating, it seemed to be actively working against us,’ said Zulu. ‘We worked hard in preparation for the Cullinan Rally but ultimately things did not work in our favour.’

It was a similar story for Han Weijs Jnr and Björn Degandt who are second in the championship. Starting well, the pair were in third place by the end of day one. But, pushing faster on day two saw their Polo S2000 roll during the second-last stage after landing in the sand following an over-exuberant jump.

The next event the Volkswagen Sasolracing squad of Polos will prepare for is the Toyota Dealer Rally in the Western Cape, which typically and traditionally features high speed stages and more than its fair share of sweeping corners.

Mike Rowe, Head of Volkswagen Motorsport South Africa was hopeful of his team’s chances at the Western Cape: ‘The Volkswagen Sasolracing team showed good pace this weekend,’ he said. ‘While this is not reflected in the overall results, it still gives us confidence for the next event where our aim is to get back on the podium.’

Other Polo finishers included Thilo Himmel and Armand Du Toit in eighth, Chad Van Beurden and Nico Swartz who took their Polo S1600 to 11th, Marko Himmel and Francois Schoonbee whose Polo R2 S1600 placed 16th, while Paulus Franken and Henry Kohne’s Manitou-liveried Polo S1600 was one place below. AC Potgieter and Tommu du Toit finished 18th.

The Marklund Motorsport team’s trip overseas to the seventh round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship over the weekend of 9-10 August was rewarded with a second place for Anton Marklund and his Polo RX Supercar.

The young Swede has been consistently fast this season but has rarely translated the speed into results. That all changed last weekend. The 21 year-old Swede finished in the top five in all his heats, and won his semi-final to line-up against Petter Solberg on the front row of the grid of the final.

‘This has been a lot of fun,’ grinned Marklund. ‘I’ve managed to score points all day and driving down the long straight at speeds of around 190kmph is just amazing. Usually rallycross events are over two days so this has been a big challenge for my team to work over one day and they have done an amazing job.

‘It’s also really good for Volkswagen to have three out of four cars in the final and now we’re tied with Olsbergs MSE in the manufacturer standings too – it’s been a great weekend for the whole team.’

Marklund Motorsport had another success at WorldRX Canada, too. The 1.3km Trois-Rivières circuit Canada has a 59 per cent asphalt and 41 per cent gravel mix, which suited Toomas ‘Topi’ Heikinnen well – the other regular driver for the Swedish team scoring a fifth place finish.

He now moves to second place in the drivers’ championship points table, while Marklund’s podium placing consolidates his fifth place.

The team fielded four Polo RXs at the event, with two for regular drivers Marklund and Heikinnen, and one each for Global Rallycross Championship driver Tanner Foust and former IndyCar and NASCAR driver Patrick Carpentier.

Carpentier made his RX debut in the event. The French Canadian proved a natural talent despite having only one short test ahead of the race. ‘I can’t explain how happy I am to have made it to the final. Before today my only aim was to reach the semis and to be in the final on my RX debut is more than I could ever have hoped for,’ he beamed.

Foust, who has appeared at previous rounds of the championship earlier in the season, suffered bad luck at Trois-Rivières. His Polo RX had driveshaft failure in practice and heat one, and the Marklund Motorsport team ran out of spares for his car.

The Rockstar Energy Drink-liveried Polo was the same car Foust drove in the Finnish round of the championship. It repeatedly suffered from driveshafts popping out when the US driver landed after heavy jumps, yet his team-mates cars were frustratingly trouble-free.

‘I’ve watched the other guys (Carpentier, Heikkinen and Marklund) hitting the jumps twice as hard as I was with no problems, so we really don’t know why it has been doing it,’ said a disappointed Foust. The Top Gear USA presenter also confirmed he may be appearing at another European round of the series.

Norway’s Petter Solberg took a sensational lights-to-flag victory at the World RX of Canada to become the first driver to win a round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship held outside of Europe.

Round eight of the series is the World RX of France which will be held in Lohéac on 6 and 7 September.

2014 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 Petter Solberg, 155
2 Toomas Heikkinen, 135

3 Reinis Nitiss, 133

4 Andreas Bakkerud, 113

5 Anton Marklund, 111

2014 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

TEAMS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 = Ford Olsbergs MSE, 246
1 = Volkswagen Marklund, 246

3 Team Peugeot-Hansen, 185

4 PSRX, 147

5 Monster Energy World RX Team, 83

Finally (or should that be Finn-ally)! Breaking a four-year non-Finnish win run, Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila reigned supreme at the 2014 Neste Oil Rally Finland, taking victory in their Volkswagen Polo R WRC.

The Finnish pairing won their home rally taking the victory all the way to the line, enduring a thrilling battle with team-mates Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia. The margin of victory? 3.6 seconds.

Latvala was dominant in the second day of the Finnish event, but suffered a setback in the afternoon. A large pothole damaged a brake line and his Polo R WRC had no braking on the front right-hand wheel, losing him and Anttila 27 seconds from his overall lead.

With a slimmed-down lead of just 3.4 seconds, the Finn summoned up tenacity and a determined spirit on the final day, demonstrating his driving skills to take a commanding victory.

But it was the tense and close duel between Latvala/Anttila and Ogier/Ingrassia which was the main story of Rally Finland, with 25 of the 26 possible best times being scored by one or the other of the two Volkswagen duos.

Only Citroën’s Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle managed to keep up with the Volkswagen pairs, finishing third.

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It may have been victorious in the recent Red Bull Global Rallycross Championship (GRC) round in New York, but the Polo-RX-powered Andretti Autosport team suffered a setback in its points fight at the fifth race of 2024 in Charlotte last weekend (26-27 July).

The North Carolina track was cruel to both Tanner Foust and Scott Speed’s 500+bhp Polo RXs, with both drivers failing to finish in the top three driver placings for the final. Speed was fifth, while Foust, hindered by tyre problems and a black flag incident with Sverre Isachsen, was three places further down the field.

‘It was a hard weekend at the dirt track. The course developed deep ruts and just about everybody got flat tyres,’ said Foust. ‘Our wheels are incredibly tough and stand up to the abuse, but it’s tough to keep up the pace when you’re running on metal instead of rubber.’

Foust continued: ‘I was in the middle on the start in the final and there just wasn’t room in the first corner for all three of us. I had a tyre go flat when we tried to squeeze through and my race was pretty much over right there.’

‘This sport is rough and my Rockstar Energy Drink Volkswagen Polo held up really well this weekend, the Top Gear USA presenter reported. ‘There were definitely battle scars from all the hits out there, but the crew worked hard and if it wasn’t for the flat tyre, we would have had a real shot at a win.’

Rallycross supremo Ken Block topped the podium at The Dirt Track, while former F1 driver Nelson Piquet Jr leads the overall standings with 227 points. Andretti Autosport’s Speed is in second place with 181 points. Round 6 of the Red Bull GRC will be at the Daytona International Speedway on 22-23 August.

2014 RED BULL GLOBAL RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

CHARLOTTE: FINAL RESULTS
1 Ken Block, #43 Hoonigan Racing Division Ford Fiesta ST
2 Sverre Isachsen, #11 Subaru Rally Team USA
3 Nelson Piquet Jr, #07 SH Racing Rallycross Ford Fiesta ST

2014 RED BULL GLOBAL RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 Nelson Piquet Jr, 227

2 Scott Speed, 181

3 Steve Arpin, 164

4 Joni Wiman, 162

5 Ken Block, 155

2014 RED BULL GLOBAL RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

TEAMS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 Ford, 472

2 Volkswagen, 293

3 Subaru, 196

4 Hyundai, 92

5 Chevrolet, 3

The fifth round of the 2014 Volkswagen Polo Cup Russia was won by Arkady Bogomolov and co-driver Oleg Zimin. The 81-kilometre event, which was held as part of the Russian rally cup Rostov Velikiy, rewarded the Russian duo when Alexey Igatov had to retire.

Bogomolov and Zimin’s compatriot Andrey Vavilin took secind place, while Roman Katunin finished third. The next round of the 2014 Volkswagen Polo Cup Russia will be held between 8-9 August at the Rally Wyborg between Saint Petersburg and the Finnish border.