Skip to main content

WRC: Anders Jæger to Team with Mikkelsen for 2016

  • Volkswagen driver Andreas Mikkelsen signs up new Norwegian co-driver
  • Anders Jæger moves up from Junior WRC to top WRC category
  • Ola Fløene leaves Volkswagen team on a career high

Wolfsburg (8 December 2015). Andreas Mikkelsen will compete in the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) with a new co-driver: he will henceforth be given his instructions by the 26-year-old Norwegian Anders Jæger, who is advancing from the Junior WRC straight to the top WRC category. Jæger therefore follows in the footsteps of fellow Norwegian Ola Fløene, who is leaving the Volkswagen team at his own request with a great deal of success under his belt. Mikkelsen achieved 13 of his 14 podium finishes in the World Rally Championship with Fløene at his side – including his highly acclaimed first rally win at Rally Spain in 2015.

“Andreas Mikkelsen is one of the best rally drivers in the world, as demonstrated by his many excellent results,” says Volkswagen Motorsport Director Jost Capito. “He came third overall in the WRC in the last two years with Volkswagen and has put us on the podium on 14 occasions. He scored his first win at Rally Spain this year, and he has achieved his biggest successes with Ola Fløene as his co-driver. Ola proved himself to be a loyal and fair team player. We would like to thank Ola for his outstanding work and wish him the best of success in his ongoing career. At the same time, we would like to warmly welcome Anders Jæger to the team. Andreas and Anders are the same age and know each other very well, and they are in with a good chance of becoming a new dream team in the World Rally Championship.”

Introducing Anders Jæger, an up-and-coming co-driver from Norway

After a successful season in the Junior WRC, 26-year-old Anders Jæger is rising to one of the biggest challenges for a rally co-driver: the top WRC category. As of January 2016, he and Andreas Mikkelsen will compete with the three-time world champions Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (F/F) and the 2014 and 2015 championship runners-up Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila (FIN/FIN), as well as with other seasoned teams driving for Hyundai and M-Sport Ford. Jæger most recently demonstrated his talent in the Junior WRC together with Ole Christian Veiby (N). He clinched five podium positions in the WRC category for up-and-coming drivers/co-drivers in 2015, two of which were on the top spot. He has previous experience as Andreas Mikkelsen’s co-driver in the Polo R WRC, having taken part in some test drives for Volkswagen in Sweden.

Ola Fløene leaves Volkswagen after some outstanding years

Andreas Mikkelsen’s long-term co-driver Ola Fløene is leaving Volkswagen and will henceforth be a strong opponent for the Wolfsburg team as he is pairing up with Mads Østberg (N, M-Sport Ford). The 46-year-old won the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) with Mikkelsen in 2011 and 2012, and achieved 13 podium finishes with him in 21 rallies in 2014 and 2015 – including their acclaimed victory at Rally Spain in 2015.

Quotes about the signing of Anders Jæger

Andreas Mikkelsen, Volkswagen Polo R WRC #9
“After a fantastic season with Volkswagen, we are rising to a new challenge in 2016. With Anders Jæger, I have an intelligent, professional and talented co-driver by my side with whom I intend to immediately continue in the same successful vein as in 2015 Anders has proved that he has what it takes, and having performed a test drive with him in Sweden I am now looking forward to our first rally together. After a number of great years with Ola Fløene by my side, I can already look back on all sorts of great moments in my career. I achieved the biggest steps in my rally career together with Ola, and I learned a great deal from him. I will certainly miss him! I’m incredibly grateful for the incredible moment that we shared by achieving our first rally win in Spain and that neither of us will ever forget. At the same time, I entirely understand his wish to make a change and I wish him all the best and, of course, many more top results in the future.”

Anders Jæger, Volkswagen Polo R WRC #9
“My eventually becoming Andreas Mikkelsen’s co-driver has been in the planning stages for a long time and I have worked very hard for this. I am now thrilled to be able to tackle the task together with him. I am proud and also honoured to have been given the opportunity to work with Volkswagen, which is such a professional team. I am confident that Andreas and I will continue to develop and will spur each other on to get better and better. Andreas is highly competitive and is hungry for more success in the future. The same goes for me too. I have already completed some test drives in the Polo R WRC with Andreas and am aware that the speed is different to what I was used to in the Junior World Rally Championship. But with the strength and support of Andreas and the team, we have an excellent starting point from which to achieve success. Now it’s time for us to prepare and work really hard.”

The post WRC: Anders Jæger to Team with Mikkelsen for 2016 appeared first on VWVortex.



from VWVortex http://ift.tt/221FiQo
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2018 Lamborghini Aventador S Roadster Review

“Supercars just don’t excite me anymore.” These words, spoken to me over a month ago by another journalist, friend, and (so-called) enthusiast were echoing in my head for far too long, but they’ve finally been drowned out. Drowned out by the wail of a naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12 engine mounted in the middle of the new Lamborghini Aventador S Roadster. My friend’s point is that back in the good old days, there was a crop of supercars that captured the imagination with amazing style, sounds, performance, and more. Today, it seems like everything is capable of supercar performance, with large luxury sedans outdoing some of the best and most dedicated teams of car nuts, while former pillars of automotive excellence are suddenly pumping out family-friendly SUVs. Beyond that, another league of supercars, dubbed hypercars have cropped up with hybrid gas-electric powertrains that make magical things happen quickly, but at the cost of the acoustic drama, visual flair, and engag...
Post a Comment
Read more

Project SportWagen: Going Stage 2 with APR

    When we last left you, the humble little SportWagen was fresh from the development process with our friends at AWE Tuning, sporting a new downpipe, exhaust and intake, allowing things to breathe a bit easier.  The car sounded great, but there was no getting around the fact that our wagon was still quite, well, slow.   While we realize that nothing we do to the Golf SportWagen at this point will make it a race car, we still felt compelled to do something .  To put it bluntly, we had a fever, and the only cure was more power. Flash forward a few hours, and we found ourselves at Waterfest, staring down APR’s palatial spread and the numerous tuned vehicles surrounding it.  Earlier in the year, APR had hinted to us that their 1.8 TSI files would be quite impressive, and based on what they were able to do with the 2.0 TSI found in the new GTI and our time in their Golf R, we knew it’d be worth the wait.  So with this in mind, we lined our G...
Post a Comment
Read more

The 10 Most Expensive VWs at Barrett-Jackson

Barrett-Jackson just wrapped up its 46th annual Scottsdale auction, which set all kinds of records, including the sale of Kindig-It Design’s 1965 21-Window Deluxe Bus for $302,500 (pictured above and below). Not only did that bus set an auction record, it was the highest priced Volkswagen in Scottsdale that week. While it outdid the next closest VW by quite a margin, it wasn’t the only high priced VW at the show. Here, are the highest priced VWs from the auction: 1. $302,500: 1965 Type II 21-Window Deluxe Bus  Featured on Velocity Channel’s Bitchin’ Rides, this microbus was completely restored by Kindig-it Design and repainted in Mercedes Black and Bentley Magnolia White. With a 1915cc 120 hp flat four out back and a 4-speed transmission, this bus sits on 17″ wheels. 2. $143,000: 1967 21-Window Deluxe Bus Not sure if you noticed a theme here, but we have another 21-window bus in black and white, but this time the colors are flipped and it has a 2,027 cc engine. Comes with a ...
Post a Comment
Read more