A great day for duo Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila (FIN/FIN) and a great day for Volkswagen: for the first time in four years, the Finnish duo triumphed in their home event in the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC). Latvala/Anttila won ‘their’ rally in the Polo R WRC in what proved to be a veritable thriller all the way to the finishing line, clinching victory over their teammates Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (F/F) by just 3.6 seconds. There was nothing to choose between the VW duo through the final leg, with Latvala bringing his lead back up to five seconds on Sunday’s opener, before Ogier took 1.3s back on the next stage.
Ogier was faster by one tenth on the Powerstage to claim maximum bonus points, but Latvala had the huge satisfaction of taking the first home win on Rally Finland since his own 2010 triumph, as he won by a final margin of just 3.6s.
Volkswagen’s excellent team success was rounded off by Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Fløene (N/N) finishing in fourth place overall. Volkswagen has therefore equalled its best team result to date in the WRC, which it set at Rally Argentina in May. Ahead of Rally Germany on 21 to 24 August, Volkswagen therefore has match balls to clinch all three WRC championship titles, for the manufacturer, the driver and the co-driver.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Jari-Matti Latvala VW 2h57m23.2s
2. Sebastien Ogier VW +3.6s
3. Kris Meeke Citroen +50.6s
4. Andreas Mikkelsen VW +1m52.5s
5. Mikko Hirvonen M-Sport Ford +2m49.7s
6. Juho Hanninen Hyundai +4m29.0s
7. Elfyn Evans M-Sport Ford +5m25.8s
8. Hayden Paddon Hyundai +6m17.8s
9. Henning Solberg Solberg Ford +12m07.0s
10. Karl Kruuda ME3 Ford +14m44.7s*
