2015 WRC in Italy: Sardinia Smiles On Volkswagen
Since joining the World Rally Championship in 2003, German automaker Volkswagen has shown the world who’s boss. How? They started by winning top place for manufacturers and drivers in 2013 and 2014.
VW continued its winning streak in 2015 by earning gold in four out of five races. And at the Portugal rally, the brand’s drivers stole the entire podium.
Volkswagen recently travelled to Sardegna for the sixth competition of the season—and they went with every intention of holding onto the drivers’ and manufacturers’ titles.
Sardegna roads
Despite VW’s stellar track record so far, this competition was far from in the bag. Held on an island in the Mediterranean, the Sardegna rally is one of the most challenging the drivers will face all year. The race is run almost entirely on extremely dusty gravel roads, and includes the longest special stage of the season and various tricky sections. The two big classics are the insane Monte Lerno phase and Micky’s Jump, where cars perform the longest jump of the season. After nearly 40 metres of air time, landing is brutal on the mechanical parts.
Volkswagen’s entries in this year’s competition were particularly interesting, because in the past the manufacturer didn’t always face other brands in its choice of events.
Facing the enemy
For the past 40 years, VW focussed most of its energy on building engines for select racing series, including the Formula 3 competitions. Michael Schumacher, Tom Kristensen, Daniel Ricciardo and Felipe Nasr are just some of the drivers who started their racing careers in Volkswagens.
Until it got started with rallying, Volkswagen mostly just sponsored type-1 series that featured their cars, like the Beetle Coupe and GTI Coupe.
In 2011, the Wolfsburg-based automaker announced that it would join the 2013 WRC, where it would challenge some of the serious contenders in one of the most difficult events in the auto sport world. Doing so would allow VW to learn more about its production vehicles while showcasing the technical qualities and performances of its products—not to mention benefit from international media coverage.
Even though rally racing isn’t wildly popular in Canada, it’s nonetheless considered a major automotive sport in other countries, where rally drivers are as adulated as their F1 counterparts. The events are televised in many countries and the shots they get of the action are consistently spectacular.
Real production models
The rules for rally racing were seriously revised in recent years to slash operating costs and positively impact production models. For a while, the best rally cars had tubular frames, outer shells made of composite materials and super-powerful engines that made them hard to drive, but a few fatal accidents forced the FIA to update the specifications. They determined that all participating vehicles had to be production models and only certain mechanical parts could be modified. These modifications are strictly regulated to prevent gaps leading to cost increases.
The Polo: a clear advantage
The Polo used in the WRC still has its original steel body and factory-standard engine. But thanks to a turbocharger, its 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine pumps out 318 horsepower. Meanwhile, the suspension components have been replaced and all-wheel drive has been grafted onto the drivetrain. Wheel-mounted paddles are used to control the six-speed sequential manual transmission with hydraulic gear selection. Naturally, racing brakes are used, which differ for asphalt or gravel roads.
The modified rally version of the production Polo GTI is definitely one of the best—if not the best—in its category. Add to that Volkwagen’s ongoing efforts to take its race cars to the next level and their outstanding drivers, and you’ve got the right ingredients for the brand to pull off another successful international rally.
Good old Ogier
Volkswagen had three teams registered in the WRC: Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia from France, Jari-Matti Latvala/Mika Anttila from Finland and Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Flone from Norway.
Prior to arriving in Sardegna, Ogier had already won the rally events in Monte-Carlo, Sweden and Mexico, while his teammate Latvala earned the top spot in Portugal. Ogier also won the Italian event last year and the year before, and he went into this year’s event determined to add a third Italian victory to his resume.
The competition obviously had other plans. They weren’t about to let Ogier win without a fight—especially not Citroën’s Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle who nabbed first at the Argentina Rally last March. The British driver and Irish co-driver were ranked second in the championship. Interestingly, Volkswagen’s top team used to wear the Citroën colours before joining the German roster.
During the special stages
From June 12th to 15th, the rally cars were put through 23 special stages in this region where not a single drop of rain has fallen in ages. The roads were incredibly dusty. Since the teams take off at regular intervals, they aren’t affected by the dust—but the same is not true for spectators!
On the first day, Hyundai’s Paddon/Kennard duo came out eight seconds ahead of Ogier/Ingrassia. This didn’t shake Volkswagen’s confidence, since they knew the second day would be the toughest, with many stages putting both drivers and vehicles through gruelling tests. “Volks” was right: the reigning world champions took the lead on Day 2 and finished 2 minutes and 13.6 seconds ahead of the previous day’s leaders. What about Volkwagen’s other teams? Finnish pair Latvala/Anttila came in sixth while Mikkelsen and his co-driver Flone were sidelined by a broken suspension.
Day 3 included just four special stages. The last one would earn the top three teams bonus points. Even though Ogier was already ahead of his rivals, he never let up and ranked first in this portion to strengthen his overall lead. For the third consecutive year, Ogier won the Italian Rally. The Latvala and Mikkelsen teams came in second and third, respectively, during the special bonus round.
Wolfsburg continues to dominate
In the Italian final, the three Volkswagen teams didn’t get to dominate the podium. Latvala had to make do with sixth, while Mikkelsen was disqualified from the overall ranking due to the mechanical breakage. Kiwi Hayden Paddon accepted second place with a big grin on his face.
Once again, French driver Sébastien Ogier dominated the season driving a car advanced enough to allow him to show off his abilities. It marked Volkswagen’s 52nd podium standing and 27th victory since diving into the WRC in 2013.