PoloDriver

In the second of a series of updates, Henry Kohne, co-driver of Paulus Franken, recounts their performance at the South African PMC Gauteng Rally in the Manitou Group Volkswagen Polo R2 rally car

The PMC Gauteng Rally took place on 23-24 May 2014 in the Babsfontein area of South Africa. After not having the ideal start to their season, the Manitou Group team was hoping to have a better event in round three of the 2014 South African National Rally Championship.

The team got off to a good start. Having a trouble free run on Friday, they were in fifth position in class at the end of day one. With only 37 seconds separating them to second place, they knew that the battle would be fierce for positions on Saturday.

Paulus Franken commented on the team’s fortune: ‘Ernie van der Walt unfortunately had mechanical issues and we moved up one position after stage five. The rest of the event we were fighting for positions with Ashley-Haigh Smith and Chris Coertse, who both drove great events.’

At the end of the event ,the Manitou Group VW Polo R2 finished third in class and tenth overall. This result gives the team valuable points at this stage of the championship. Hoping that their streak of bad luck is now behind them, they are focusing on the remainder of the season.

The next event will be the Volkswagen Rally, 11-12 July 2014 in the Eastern Cape. Franken can’t wait to get started: ‘We look forward to this event as it is the home event for Volkswagen.’

Thanks to the support the team receive from Manitou Group, Volkswagen Motorsport and SASOL Racing.

Andretti Autosport fired the opening salvo of its 2014 Red Bull Global Rallycross Championship last weekend, with a victory for US driver Scott Speed at the Top Gear Festival in Barbados. Speed was driving a Marklund Motorsport-prepared Polo RX Supercar with over 550bhp, similar to the cars driven in the FIA World Rallycross Championship. The former F1 and Nascar driver finished ahead of Ford drivers Steve Arpin and Brian Deegan.

Speed was pleased with his result. ‘What a fantastic weekend. We had the right pace from start. The team did an amazing job right from the word go and set the car up perfectly for the race. For Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross, it’s our first event as a team. There’s a lot of new guys here, and for us to come out with a win in our first stop, it’s great, because we’re only going to get better.’

Speed’s team-mate and Top Gear USA host Tanner Foust crossed the line at the Bushy Park circuit in eleventh place in the second Polo RX. The pair are using European Polo silhouette cars before their more US-centric Beetle racers arrive later in the season. The next round of the Global Rallycross Championship takes place at the Circuit of Americas in Austin, Texas (USA), on 7 June.

2014 GRC BARBADOS RACE RESULTS
1 Scott Speed, #77 Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross VW
2 Steve Arpin, #00 Royal Purple Racing/OMSE2 Ford
3 Brian Deegan, #38 Rockstar Energy Drink Ford

[Images: Alison Padron, Tanner Foust and Scott Speed]

Evo India’s website www.thrillofdriving.com reports that Volkswagen India has confirmed it will not be running a factory team in the 2014 Indian Rallying Championship (IRC). Two R2-specification Polos had been scheduled to take part, but ‘homologation’ issues have forced the manufacturer to withdraw. The car maker even tested the R2 Polos in the last rounds of the 2013 season, one of which was TDI-powered.

However, support for customer teams – such as Slideways Industries – will continue and Volkswagen remains committed to both teams and privateers. So, Polos will seen as a major force in the IRC for 2014 – www.thrillofdriving.com reports that up to 11 cars are rumoured to be running, six of them fielded by Slideways Industries. The Group N title will be the most hotly contested.

Volkswagen has said that with more cooperation from the Federation of Motorsports Clubs of India (FMSCI), it may field official R2 Polo entries in 2015. FMCSI meanwhile confirmed that homologation for the car is complete, when talking to www.thrillofdriving.com about the situation. Read more here.

[Source: thrillofdriving.com]

Volkswagen celebrated its fifth win in the 2014 FIA World Rally Championship at Rally Argentina (8-11 May), where Jari-Matti Latvala came home first, closely followed by current World Champion Sébastien Ogier. The third team driver, Andreas Mikkelsen, finished fourth, securing the best result yet for the German outfit in the history of the WRC. It was the record-breaking ninth consecutive win for Volkswagen.

Despite sometimes atrocious weather conditions, spectators watched a thrilling duel unfold between Ogier and Latvala over the 405km rally. The Frenchman claimed the first two Special Stages. Latvala fought back during the event’s longest stage, setting the fastest time and putting him and co-driver Miikka Anttila at the top of the leaderboard.

Before the first day’s rallying had finished, the first place had changed hands twice more between Latvala and Ogier. The Finn dominated on days two and three and gained the upper hand, winning eight stages compared to Ogier’s one. In so doing, Latvala closed the gap between him and Ogier in the WRC Drivers’ Championship points table to 24 points.

‘Of course I’m absolutely thrilled to have won the Rally Argentina. It’s been quite a few years since a Finn won this rally. Fighting it out with Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia was great. My co-driver Miikka Anttila contributed enormously to our success because his instructions safely guided us through some extremely difficult sections,’ said Latvala.

He continued: ‘Huge thanks go to the whole Volkswagen team too, because our Polo was always perfectly prepared and withstood the immense strain right until the end. This victory means a lot to me personally because we won this tricky rally on our own merit, which shows that we’re still a force to be reckoned with in the World Championship.’

Ogier’s second place means he still leads the overall championship. Extra points are awarded in the final Power Stage for the best three pairings in the Drivers’ and Co-Drivers’ Championship. Ogier and co-driver Julien Ingrassia finished 10.5 seconds ahead of Ford Fiesta driver Mikko Hirvonen on the ‘El Condor’ stage, and a tenth of a second ahead of Latvala. Four of the six extra points went to the Wolfsburg-based team as a result.

Sébastien Ogier commented: ‘The conditions at this Rally Argentina were the most difficult ones I’ve experienced for a long time. The road conditions were incredibly tough on the drivers and the cars, so I’m very happy with second place. I’d like to congratulate Jari-Matti, who put in a strong performance and deserved to win. I’m actually pleased that people are realising it’s not as easy to win as it might sometimes look.’

Mikkelsen’s fourth place meanwhile, contributed to his third place in the Drivers’ Championship points table. Doggedly working his way up the leaderboard with co-driver Mikko Markkula, the pair suffered an alternator failure due to a loose belt on day one. A five-minute time penalty resulted in a seventh place finish, somewhat lower than the duo were expecting.

However, on day two, they overtook three of their rivals by setting the best time on one stage and claiming two other top three times. This halved the gap to second place to less than two minutes.The pair then secured fourth place overall with good results on the two classic stages ‘Mina Clavero’ and ‘El Condor’, finishing just 23.6 seconds shy of a podium place.

‘I’ve never been so delighted to finish fourth. After we failed to finish the last stage on Friday because of a technical glitch and were hit with a five-minute penalty as a result, we tried to make the best of things. We simply couldn’t have done any more and I’m really pleased with our performance. After gaining fourth place even quicker than we’d hoped on Saturday, we were a bit more cautious on Sunday. Nevertheless, we managed to make good a lot of time and shorten our gap to third place. All in all, we’re very satisfied,’ said a very pleased Mikkelsen.

The next round of the championship is Rally Italy in Sardinia on 5-8 June, where Volkswagen will go 97 points ahead of second-placed Citroën.

2014 FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP,

RALLY PORTUGAL: FINAL RESULTS

1 Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikko Anttila (FIN/FIN), Volkswagen: 4h 41m 24.8s
2 Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingassia (F/F), Volkswagen: + 1m 29s

3 Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle (GB/IRL), Citroën: + 5m 54.7s
4 Andreas Mikkelsen/Mikko Markkula (N/FIN), Volkswagen: + 6m 18.3s
5 Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul (B/B), Hyundai: + 8m 25.8s

2014 FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP,

DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 Sébastien Ogier, 112

2 Jari-Matti Latvala, 88

3 Andreas Mikkelsen, 48

4 Mads Østberg, 48
5 Mikko Hirvonen, 40

2014 FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP,

MANUFACTURERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 Volkswagen Motorsport, 187

2 Citroën Total Abu Dhabi WRT, 90

3 M-Sport, 68

4 Hyundai Motorsport, 55

5 Volkswagen Motorsport II, 52

Over the weekend of 10-11 May, P G Andersson drove a Marklund Motorsport-prepared Polo RX Supercar in the Swedish RallyX round. Scoring a second fastest time in the first heat, he went on to place fifth in the second heat, putting him in third overall. Unfortunately, that was where his run of good luck ended.

A further good performance in the third heat made sure he qualified foe the semi-final. But, a problem with a crankshaft sensor out him in second place. Still, this enabled him to make and drive the final, but with only a maximum 5000rpm limit. His drive ended on the third lap with a front-wheel puncture, resulting in a sixth place finish.