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Henk Lategan and Barry White battled the rain and inclement conditions at the Sasol Rally in Nelspruit over 19-20 April to claim a fourth place overall for the South African Volkswagen Sasolracing rally team. Even with multiple punctures, the duo were the top-placed VW finishers in their Polo S2000. Two of the 15 stages on the two-day event were cancelled, with the second day having almost constant rain. The wet conditions didn’t stop Gugu Zulu and Carl Peskin either, their Polo Vivo S2000 finishing seventh, the reigning S2000 Challenge champions taking the honours once more in the category.

‘It was an unpredictable rally and today was particularly tough,’ said Lategan. ‘It was difficult just staying on the road and we found ourselves going full-lock in both directions on the straights. The most important thing was for us was to get to the finish of the event.’ Mike Rowe, Head of Volkswagen Motorsport South Africa agreed. ‘The Sasol Rally proved a real challenge this year. Henk and Barry did well in just their second outing for the Volkswagen Sasolracing team. They put in a good performance and even recorded a stage win in the process.’

The Sasol Rally was the first outing for the new pairing of Enzo Kuun and Douglas Judd, following the retirement of Kuun’s longstanding co-driver Guy Hodgson. Not expected to be competitive, the pair didn’t finish the event. An opportunity to get some time together in the car, the pair achieved their goal, according to Rowe. Finally, Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries put in good stage times on the second day of the event, claiming several stage times within the top five finishers. Technical problems during the first day of the event cost them in terms of overall rally time and they finished just inside the top 10, claiming ninth place overall.

It looked as though it may not happen, but Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia were once again victorious in the 2013 FIA World Rally Championship yesterday, lifting the trophy at Rally Portugal. The third win of the season for Volkswagen Motorsport, Ogier was recovering from the end of flu at the start of the event, and took victory ahead of Citroën’s Mikko Hirvonen and Polo R WRC team-mates Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila, who celebrated their first podium finish of 2013. The third Polo R WRC driver, Andreas Mikkelsen, made a promising start to his Volkswagen career, coming in sixth with his co-driver Mikko Markkula. With points scored at the fourth event of 2013, Volkswagen now sits at the top of the FIA World Rally Championship manufacturer’s table. Ogier heads the drivers.

Despite his illness, Ogier performed well, right from the start, emerging with a slender lead at the end of day one. Four stage wins on Saturday retained his grip on the lead, a lead he held until the finish of the event on Sunday. But, his drive wasn’t without problems. Both he and Latvala suffered mechanical failures on the final day of the event. Ogier’s connecter between the front and rear axles (which allows the handbrake to be used in tight hairpins) refused to close, losing him time, while one of Latvala’s driveshafts broke, causing him to tackle the longest stage of the event – the 52.30km Almodovar stage – with just rear-wheel drive. He ultimately surrendered his then-second place, but still drove superbly enough to finish in third place overall.

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The fourth round of the 2013 FIA World Rally Championship will see three Polo R WRCs take to the start line for the first time. Sébastien Ogier and Jari-Matti Latvala are joined for the rest of season by Intercontinental Rally Challenge champion Andreas Mikkelsen from Rally Portugal onwards. Along with his co-driver Mikko Markkula, Mikkselsen will contest events in the number 9 Volkswagen Motorsport car, and represent a theoretically second team – Volkswagen Motorsport II, which will allow the Norwegian/Finnish duo to have access to ten test days this year, rather than having to share this limited development time with their team-mates.

Testing has already taken place on the Algarve coast, with each crew spending two days putting the rally Polos through their paces at the end of March. The second gravel event of the year, the Rally Portugal from 11-14 April will see 386.73 kilometres driven over the course of 15 special stages. Mikkelsen has already had his first taste of WRC action in Portugal, as he took part in the Fafe Rally Sprint at the weekend, a 6.34km event in the north of the country. Finishing in fourth place, he and Markkula tailed the Citroën DS3 of Dani Sordo and Carlos del Barrio, at the 10,000-spectator strong event. Ogier also was due to compete at the Fafe Rally Sprint, but was forced to withdraw due to suffering from a bout of flu.

‘After three completely different rallies at the start of the season, the first “typical” WRC rally awaits us in Portugal,’ said Volkswagen Motorsport Director Jost Capito. ‘Tough gravel routes, spring temperatures and – unlike at the Rally Mexico – stages at just above sea level: we will probably come across the same kind of conditions at the coming rallies in Argentina, Greece and Italy. As such, the Rally Portugal provides us with another important indicator of what the Polo R WRC is capable of. Furthermore, we will also send a third driving pair into action at every rally from now on, in the form of Andreas Mikkelsen and Mikko Markkula. Andreas and Mikko have already been very successful in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, and are now deservedly taking the next big step into the top flight of rallying.’

Volkswagen fans can now pretend they’re Sébastien Ogier, or rather Julien Ingrassia, with the new Rally The World – The Game for iOS and Android devices. Volkswagen calls the application ‘an innovative interpretation of classic racing games’, where the player takes on the role of Ingrassia, to guide the rally Polo through dangerous curves and over demanding routes. Tactics are the order of the day, to achieve the perfect blend of planning, timing and speed. The more often players of the game complete the course, the more rally experience points they receive, which gives them access to further virtual competition countries as well as command cards.

Available free from the Apple App Store for iOS and via Google Play, Android Pit and the Samsung Store for Android, Rally The World – The Game is also available to play online at www.rallytheworld.com. As part of the online version, all players can also compete for genuine prizes in addition to taking part in virtual races. Rally The World – The Game is part of Volkswagen’s international motorsports campaign ‘Rally The World’. The key element in the campaign is the online platform www.rallytheworld.com which features interviews, photos and videos, in addition to real-time reporting and information on the new Polo R WRC. Go, download, and rally the world!

The Total Rally on 8-9 March saw the Volkswagen Sasolracing team have mixed results, on what was the first round of the 2013 South African National Rally Championship. Decisively won by South African rally champions Mark Cronje and Robin Houghton in their Ford Fiesta S2000, the highest-placed Volkswagen Sasolracing car in Kwazulu Natal was the Polo Vivo S2000 of Gugu Zulu and Carl Peskin, which finished fifth. Further down the field, Megan and Oliver Verlaque completed the event 15th, and sixth in the S1600 class. It was a disappointing event for the flagship squad of Volkswagen Polo S2000s, though, with one car retiring, and two others involved in a serious incident.

Former champions Enzo Kuun and Guy Hodgson crashed out on Friday’s stage three, while battling for second place with the Fiesta S2000 of Jan Habig and Robert Paisley. The Polo was severely damaged after rolling end over end several times and the pair were taken to hospital for observation. It was slightly better news for Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries. After competing in the Super Rally, they went off the road on Friday’s first stage and were unable to continue. After setting second-fastest times in Saturday’s first two stages, they lost time with a puncture on stage 12. The pair finished 18th overall and 11th in S2000, and it was a frustrating reminder of the Polo 6R S2000’s potential.In the third Sasolracing Polo S2000, 18 year-old Henk Lategan and his co-driver Barry White impressed in their debut, finishing third on Friday and recovering from contact with a concrete tunnel wall and a brief grass fire to finish 13th in S2000. Their incident saw the cancellation of stage eight, the first of Saturday’s six gravel stages, as officials and bystanders extinguished the blaze caused by the car’s hot exhaust setting fire to the dry undergrowth. Lategan marked himself as a champion of the future with a spirited fight-back which saw him take the honours from his more illustrious rivals on stage 12 on his way to 23rd overall.

Other top 20 Polo Total Rally finishers included the S1600 machine of Chad van Beurden and Henry Dearlove, and the S2000 Challenge car of Morne Janse van Rensburg and Rikus Fourie. The newly-developed Polo 6R 1600 Group N Manitou Group-sponsored of Paul Franken and Henry Kohne unfortunately failed to finish. The next round of the South African Rally Championship, the Sasol Rally, is at Mpumalanga on 19-20 April 2013.