Volkswagen has won its second FIA World Rally Championship constructor’s title in a row following a one-two-three finish this weekend at Rally Australia, with three races still to spare.
In 2013, Volkswagen broke five years of consecutive constructor’s championship wins for Citroen when Sébastien Ogier won the championship while driving the Volkswagen Polo R WRC, and the emphatic finish in Australia, where Ogier led Jari-Matti Latvala and Andreas Mikkelsen to an all Volkswagen podium, has secured the title for a second-successive year.
Volkswagen’s victory marks the earliest that a manufacturer’s title has been won in the World Rally Championship for 25 years, with three races still to come in France, Spain and Wales between now and mid-November.
As if securing the team title wasn’t enough for Volkswagen, the three crews that topped the standings down under are also in the top three positions in both the driver’s and co-driver’s standings at the moment.
In the final three races, last year’s overall winner Ogier and his teammate Latvala will go to head to be crowned World Rally Champion for 2014.
Current world champion Sébastien Ogier said: “Absolutely fantastic. I am made up for our team! They really deserve this success so much. It is hard to put this feeling into words. The fact that we have wrapped up the World Championship title with the first ever all-Volkswagen podium is an incredible success.”
Meanwhile, Jost Capito, Volkswagen motorsport director, said that it “doesn’t get any better” than the team’s emphatic securing of the title.
“It is always more difficult to successfully defend the World Championship title than it is to win it in the first place. What the team has achieved this season, and the extent to which it has improved, demands my utmost respect,” he added.
Of the 20 stages that made up the Australian rally, Volkswagen picked up victories in 17, with the Polo R WRC now putting itself into position as one of the most successful cars ever. Since its introduction in 2013, the car has picked up 297 stage victories from 498 starts.
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