Three-way battle in Spain: VW ahead of Citroën and Ford

Volkswagen, Citroën and Ford each have two teams in the top six – on day two of three, the Rally Spain developed into a thrilling three-way battle of the brands. Volkswagen’s factory duo Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila (FIN/FIN) are leading by a narrow margin with their Polo R WRC after the nine asphalt stages of round twelve in the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC). Latvala/Anttila will go into Sunday’s leg with a 1.6-second lead over asphalt specialist Daniel Sordo (Citroën). The “Rallye de España” now changes character completely. On the last day, the drivers will tackle gravel Special Stages in the only WRC event held on both asphalt and gravel. On Saturday evening, the Volkswagen Team will reconfigure the Polo R WRCs for gravel rather than asphalt in the longest service of the year (75 minutes). This involves changing the suspension components, shock absorbers, springs and differentials. A tall order for the mechanics.

The new World Rally Champions Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (F/F) experienced something of a setback today. A puncture during SS 06 of the Rally Spain cost the Volkswagen duo approximately 50 seconds. Thanks to best times in four Special Stages and three further top-three finishes, they are still fourth in the overall standings, 46.5 seconds behind their team-mates Latvala/Anttila. In spite of this, Ogier/Ingrassia could still claim victory: on Sunday, they will benefit from starting fourth as their biggest rivals will already have cleared the ideal line. Meanwhile, Andreas Mikkelsen/Mikko Markkula (N/FIN) were forced to retire early in the third Polo R WRC after an error in the first stage on Saturday damaged the car’s suspension. They will return on Sunday under Rally 2 regulations.

Saturday’s SS 08 was the so-called Power Stage, where bonus points are awarded in the Drivers’ Championship. Ogier/Ingrassia came second after Thierry Neuville (Ford) to earn two points, while Latvala/Anttila bagged one by finishing third. With this performance, Ogier/Ingrassia continued their indomitable run of success: the World Champions have collected extra points in all of the Power Stages held in 2013 to date. So far, the pair have bagged 28 bonus points – equivalent to winning a round plus a Power Stage. All they have to do to secure today’s extra points is cross the line on Sunday.

Jari-Matti Latvala, Volkswagen Polo R WRC #7

“Of course I’m pleased to be leading in the Rally Spain at the end of day two. But the terrain is about to change from asphalt to gravel. It’s not an easy situation because I’ll have to open the route as the leading driver, meaning I’ll clear the ideal line for the cars behind me. All the same, we didn’t spend a single second today driving tactically – instead, we tried to secure ourselves a bit of a lead. I hope that the weather will give me a bit of extra help tomorrow and the damp will improve grip, at least first thing in the morning. It is certainly set to be exciting because four drivers could still win. We’ll have to give 100 per cent if we want to stay in the running.”

Sébastien Ogier, Volkswagen Polo R WRC #8

“Today was going pretty well for us until the sixth stage, then we got a puncture in our front left tyre in the 15th kilometre. Although we still made it to the end of the stage, it cost us more than 50 seconds. And even though starting further back is an advantage tomorrow on gravel, it certainly wasn’t a strategic move! Anyway, it will be difficult to make it right to the front tomorrow – but I never give up. We’ll definitely go on the attack 100 per cent tomorrow.”

Andreas Mikkelsen, Volkswagen Polo R WRC #9

“About halfway through the first Special Stage, I slid off the track because of a understeer. It was only a small mistake, but I hit a big stone in a ditch. Then the back right suspension broke and we replaced lots of parts on the car. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it to the start of the next stage in time. Now we face the gravel stages tomorrow, but we’ve got a good starting position at the back of the WRC field because we retired today. I hope this will mean we can put in a couple of good SS times tomorrow.”

Jost Capito, Volkswagen Motorsport Director

“A little bit of bad luck can make a huge difference in the World Rally Championship, as Sébastien Ogier’s experience today showed. His puncture put him back from first to sixth place. After that, he managed to work his way forward to fourth position. However, this also means that the WRC is never boring. With this in mind, Jari-Matti Latvala’s performance today was all the more exceptional – he managed to stay objective and faultless in every situation. He is leading going into tomorrow’s gravel stages, but that also means he has to tackle them first. That’s not an easy job and it’s certainly not advantageous. After switching from asphalt to gravel, absolutely anything is possible on Sunday. So it’s definitely worth following the World Rally Championship tomorrow.”