From Portugal to Mexico and now, hopefully, Argentina: Volkswagen goes into the fourth round of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) in a particularly determined frame of mind.
The Rally Argentina sees the world championship-winning team return to the very last place at which they did not stand on top of the podium with the winners’ Champagne.
Between Argentina 2015 and Argentina 2016, Sébastien Ogier (F), Jari-Matti Latvala (FIN) and Andreas Mikkelsen (N) have put together a historic winning run of twelve successive victories.
Together with co-drivers Julien Ingrassia (F), Miikka Anttila (FIN) and Anders Jæger (N), they now have their sights set on continuing this remarkable success story. Were they to do so, they would go an entire year and once round the world unbeaten.
However, the duos in the three Polo R WRC face a big challenge. The 18 special stages feature a total distance of 364.68 kilometres against the clock, and not a single stage remains unchanged from 2015.
“There is no question about it: when you have achieved a run like this and have the opportunity to put the icing on the cake, you are particularly motivated,” said Volkswagen Motorsport Director Jost Capito. “Once around the world without a single defeat – that is something that no manufacturer has ever achieved in the World Rally Championship.
However, we are going about this task in an extremely calm and meticulous manner – as we do at every round of the world championship. We know that the last time we were not successful was in Argentina, so we need to raise our game. However, I am 100 per cent certain that everyone in the team will do their very best.”
Twelve victories, three continents and almost once around the globe
Wins at the rallies in Portugal, Italy, Poland, Finland, Germany, Australia, France, Spain, Great Britain, Monte Carlo, Sweden and Mexico – Volkswagen has put together a historic winning run for the second time. The only other manufacturer ever to have achieved this feat was Volkswagen itself, when the Polo R WRC went undefeated for twelve rallies from Australia 2013 to the Rally Finland 2014. An achievement, of which Volkswagen is particularly proud – the third-longest winning run belongs to Citroën with eight back-to-back victories.
Volkswagen could put the icing on the cake in Argentina: one more triumph would see the Wolfsburg-based outfit become the first manufacturer ever to go undefeated around the world for 12 months. The Polo R WRC’s only previous victory in Argentina came back in 2014, when Jari-Matti Latvala was first and team-mate Sébastien Ogier finished second.
