One-two for Ogier and Latvala at Rally Mexico

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Volkswagen enjoyed an outstanding double success at the Rally Mexico. In doing so, winners Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (F/F) and runners-up Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila (FIN/FIN) won over the extreme conditions at the third round of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC). En route to the seventh Volkswagen victory in a row, the two leaders in the World Championship laid the foundations for their one-two on the opening day. They were faced with the obstacle of being first and second onto the route. Despite this, they had still battled their way to first and third place by the end of the first third of the rally. That all-action display was followed by a flawless second day, which saw Ogier and Latvala move to the top of the standings and open up a substantial lead, which just kept growing. On the final day, Ogier and Latvala comfortably controlled the pace to claim the fourth one-two for the Polo R WRC in 16 outings in the World Rally championship. Ignoring the break between seasons, this was the seventh victory in a row for Volkswagen. Come the end of the rally in Mexico, Ogier/Ingrassia were a mighty 5:28.6 minutes ahead of the best-placed non-Volkswagen driver.

The world’s fastest street sweeper: awesome effort from the Volkswagen duo

The WRC regulations meant the two Volkswagen drivers were faced with a luxurious problem on the opening day of the rally. As first, second and fourth in the World Championship, they had the dubious honour of opening the route. In few other rallies is this such a major disadvantage as in Mexico. More and more of the layer of loose gravel is swept out of the way with every World Rally Car that passes. The disadvantage is calculated at about 0.1 seconds per kilometre and per competitor. However, the Volkswagen pairings of Ogier/Ingrassia and Latvala/Anttila produced an energetic display to negate this hindrance. Eight of eleven stage wins went to Wolfsburg on day one alone.

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