mobile-menu-icon
Motrolix

Volkswagen Continues WRC Dominance With 1-2-3 Finish At Rally Portugal

Reigining World Rally Championship winners Volkswagen continued their dominance of the premier rally series Sunday, racing to a 1-2-3 finish in the Vodafone Rally de Portugal. Finnish duo Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila locked down their first win of 2015 in the race, beating out reigning champs Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia by 8.2 seconds. Third on the podium was Andreas Mikkelsen and Ola Floene.

Ogier initially looked stronger racing on Sunday’s 54.6 kilometer route, pulling ahead of Latvala by a couple of seconds early on. The second stage saw Latvala gain on Ogier by posting the fastest time of the field, an accomplishment he credits to co-driver Anttila. Ogier fought back in the third stge by posting the fastest time, but Latvala was second fastest, putting the Fin at the top of the leaderboard for the day. The win was Latvala’s first since the 2014 Rallye de France and effectively moves into fifth in the driver’s standings.

Mikkelsen started from fourth Sunday and pulled his way past Ireland’s Kris Meeke in the first stage. He raced his way through the second two stages and finished third ahead of Meeke, who broke a rear anti-roll bar in the second stage and thus couldn’t catch any of the Volkswagens.

The FIA World Rally Championship will head to Sardinia for the sixth round of racing, the all-gravel Rally Italia Sardegna from June 11-14. Click here for current driver’s and manufacturer’s standings from the WRC.

No Comments yet

Leave a comment

Cancel