Defending world champions Sebastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia once again finished ahead of the rest of the WRC field, while their Volkswagen teammates Andreas Mikkelsen and Ola Floene secured second overall at Rally Poland over the weekend – the seventh round of the championship.
The Frenchmen were in command for all of the event’s 24 stages and 360 km, but over the last few kilometres, the duo decided to take it a little easier to secure victory.
“It’s just brilliant, this win was an important one in the world championship stakes. Julien and I had a perfect rally here in Poland. On the final day, there were some wonderful stretches again where I had to force myself not to go at full pelt. Because obviously we didn’t want to jeopardize our lead too much,” Ogier said afterward.
Mikkelsen, driving the Volkswagen Motorssport II Polo WRC, took the fight to his seniors on a rally that was characterized by fast average speeds. The young Norwegian clocked the fastest special stage in the Polo R since it was introduced to the WRC – an average of 136,88 km/h on the 12,89 km Wieliczki 2 stage.
“Second place and my second podium finish in the WRC – it’s a great result. It was an honour for me to battle it out with the reigning world champion for the top spot for so long. I didn’t manage to beat him and take the lead in the end, but my aim is still to one day stand on the top step of the winners’ rostrum,” Mikkelsen said.
While Volkswagen is running away with the constructor’s championship, Hyundai and the M-Sport Ford teams scraped a third and fourth overall through the efforts of Thierry Neuville and Mikko Hirvonen. The outcome might have been different had Jari-Matti Latvala not damaged the front left suspension in his #2 Polo WRC. After a long list of repairs were performed, the Finn bettered his seventh overall to fifth and even managed stage wins, but couldn’t improve further.
“I lacked confidence at the beginning and the vehicle set-up wasn’t right, and then we lost a lot of time due to the damaged damper. But ultimately what matters the most is that we managed to hit the right pace again and were therefore able to partially close the gap to the front-runners,” Latvala said.
The next round of the World Rally Championship is Rally Finland, an event usually dominated by skillful Scandinavians. Will the rest of the field catch the champion in the Finnish forests, or will he extend his lead further? Rally Finland happens from 1-3 August.
