Skip to main content

Volkswagen Earns 1-2 to End WRC Era

It was a bittersweet end to the WRC season in Australia, as everyone knew that the quadruple championship-winning Volkswagen Motorsport would not return for the next season. Its drivers, all—as far as we know—without a WRC seat next year were racing for their lives as they looked for employment next year.

In  the end, Andreas Mikkelsen, Volkswagen’s young gun put on the best performance racing his way to victory at the Kennards Hire Rally Australia, with his championship-winning teammate, Sebastien Ogier, behind him in second.

Although Mikkelsen eventually won the race by a healthy 14 seconds, it was by no means an easy victory.

With a healthy lead on Saturday, Mikkelsen’s brake pedal twisted and fixing it cost him nine seconds. With that, Ogier was back on his tail and drawing him in.

Unfortunately, Ogier made a rare mistake on the last day of competition, spinning the car and dashing his hopes of catching his Norwegian teammate.

Rally Australia 2016

“What a fantastic weekend, and what a wonderful result at the end of our season,” said Mikkelsen after the race. “Today has been a very special day, as it was our last appearance as a team. I was so desperate to win this rally for Volkswagen.”

It wasn’t all elation for the race winner, though. As his excitement subsided, sadness reared its head.

“It’s just sad to see all this nice team and car come to an end,” Mikkelsen told reporters after the race. “I told [my co-driver] in the car in the stage that ‘Wow, I will miss this team and this car.’ Very sad.”

Rally Australia 2016

Jari-Matti Latvala, meanwhile, considered one of the quickest drivers in WRC today, but for his tendency to occasionally hit race-ending obstacles, ended the rally as he so often did, trying to salvage a result after hitting—this time—a bridge.

And so, after 13 races, nine Volkswagen race victories (at least one for each driver), and a team championship, the 2016 WRC season ends and with it Volkswagen’s WRC team.

Ogier handily won the drivers’ championship—more than 100 points ahead of the second place Thierry Neuville—while Mikkelsen took third, missing second place in the drivers’ rankings by just four points. Latvala, meanwhile finished the season in sixth place.

Rally Australia 2016

The post Volkswagen Earns 1-2 to End WRC Era appeared first on VWVortex.



from VWVortex http://ift.tt/2eYVCS5
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Saying Goodbye to the CC V6

For all its size and its global reach, Volkswagen is still, in many ways, a deeply human company. There was, for instance, the Bugatti Veyron an ego project if ever there was one. Then the purchase of Ducati, a move most called folly. And then there was the Phaeton, the Volkswagen that most folks can’t afford. Not only were these moves all strange, I’m sure that they made VW’s accountants furious. None of them made good business sense, but they were all deeply interesting and they all are evidence of the heart that beats at the center of VW. Among these follies is the CC, a car that everyone agrees is rakishly handsome, but that no one really wanted to buy. The car couldn’t last, but the world is brighter for its having been in it. With the approach debut of the Arteon, it seems like a good time to look back on its sadly departing predecessor. The version I drove, because I live in Canada, is a V6 Wolfsburg Edition, which apparently isn’t available in the States. Nor is the V6, not as...
Post a Comment
Read more

Waterfest Moves to Atco Dragway

Waterfest 24 will be held at Atco Dragway, in Atco, New Jersey. The summer event will take place at its new venue on July 21 and 22. Long held in Englishtown, New Jersey, the festival has been such a large part of the VW scene that the latest iteration of the Golf even comes with optional “Englishtown” wheels . The new venue, however, is an NHRA drag track a scant 52 miles southwest of Englishtown. The ¼ mile drag track opened in 1960, which makes it the oldest drag strip in New Jersey. The announcement came today on a social media post that announced the new location. Waterfest is North America’s largest VW/Audi show. As many 20,000 people show up for the annual show, making the second largest show in the world—with Worthersee being number one. 2018 will be Waterfest’s 24 th year in existence. The post Waterfest Moves to Atco Dragway appeared first on VWVortex . from VWVortex http://ift.tt/2GQjkuc via IFTTT
Post a Comment
Read more

European Passat GTE launches as Saloon and Variant

Volkswagen continues e-motoring offensive with plug-in hybrid Passat GTE delivers 218 PS and travels up to 50 kilometres on all-electric power First Volkswagen plug-in hybrid in the high-volume segment of large family cars The Volkswagen continues to electrify! Following the Golf GTE*, comes the next high-volume model with a plug-in drive system: this time the German carmaker is electrifying the new Passat GTE. Its launch marks the debut of a new generation of business and family cars – zero-emission vehicle and long-distance touring car all in one. A Volkswagen that combines the present and the future. A car that boasts not only one of the most progressive drive systems of our time, but also an array of innovative assistance and infotainment systems that is ground-breaking in the segment of large family cars. With superb system output of 160 kW / 218 PS, frugal NEDC consumption of just 1.6 l/100 km and 12.2 kWh/100 km (Variant: 12.4 kWh) and an all-electric range of up to 50 k...
Post a Comment
Read more