VW driver quotes after day three of the Rally Sweden 14.02.2016: WRC Rallyes - SWEDEN Rally Sunday, February 14th 2016 Sébastien Ogier, Volkswagen Polo R WRC #1

WRC Rallyes -  SWEDEN Rally
Sunday, February 14th 2016



Sébastien Ogier, Volkswagen Polo R WRC #1


“Winning in Sweden again is an incredible feeling. I just love this rally. The conditions were far from ideal at the start of the week after the thawing and all the rain, which makes it all the more pleasing that we eventually had a really good, wintery Rally Sweden.


Yesterday, we probably had to take the greatest risk of our career in order to win. It paid off, and I am just really happy.”



Jari-Matti Latvala, Volkswagen Polo R WRC #2

„ Naturally, my second home rally, the Rally Sweden, didn't go at all according to plan. It is always a bitter pill to swallow when a competition is over so early from a sporting perspective. However, it is also important to reflect on the positive aspects of the weekend.


The car felt fantastic, we were totally competitive and we proved that with best times on some stages. Unfortunately, I had to take to the track first on the closing power stage, which meant that I wasn't really in with a chance of picking up any points.




We have a good starting position for the next event in Mexico, and we have to make use of it. Hopefully the conditions will be on our side, and I wouldn't be averse to a little more luck than in the first two events of the season.“



Andreas Mikkelsen, Volkswagen Polo R WRC #9

“Naturally, fourth place is not what we were aiming for at the Rally Sweden. We definitely wanted to be fighting for the win. However, to achieve this, we had to drive on full attack right from the start - and ultimately made too many mistakes. Naturally, we will learn from this for the future.


I gave it my all once again on the power stage today and picked up two bonus points. On balance we made the best of the situation.”



Jost Capito, Volkswagen Motorsport Director


“To win the Rally Sweden four times is a fantastic effort from the entire team, but particularly from Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia. With the very special conditions created by the weather, winning this rally took a will to attack and a flawless display in equal measures.


 I take my hat off to them. The fact that going at full throttle 100 percent doesn't necessarily guarantee success was demonstrated by Andreas Mikkelsen and Anders Jæger. Like their team-mates they gave it their all, but minor errors made the difference between victory and fourth place.


Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila missed out on fighting for the win early on, but despite the setbacks at the start, they delivered a good performance. We are definitely pleased with the performances of our drivers and the entire team.”




And then there was ...

... a true rally sprint. The warm weather in Sweden and the persistent thawing ahead of the second WRC event of the year forced the organisers to cancel nine of the 21 special stages. This reduced the distance of the classified kilometres to 226.48 km - making the 2016 Rally Sweden the shortest WRC rally of all time.


Before this, the 2015 Rally France at 245.35, the 2007 Rally Argentina at 248.90 and the 2011 Rally Jordan at 259.56 timed kilometres were the shortest competitions in WRC history.



FIA World Rally Championship (WRC), Rally Sweden – Final Results


01. Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (F/F), Volkswagen, 1h 59m 47.4s

02. Hayden Paddon/John Kennard (NZ/NZ), Hyundai, + 29.8s

03. Mads Østberg/Ola Fløene (N/N), Ford, + 55.6s

04. Andreas Mikkelsen/Anders Jæger (N/N), Volkswagen, + 1m 10.8s

05. Ott Tänak/Raigo Mõlder (EST/EST), Ford, + 1m 50.7s

06. Dani Sordo/Marc Martí (E/E), Hyundai, + 2m 24.0s

07. Henning Solberg/Ilka Minor (N/A), Ford, + 2m 40.0s

08. Craig Breen/Scott Martin (IRL/GB), Citroën, + 2m 44.6s

09. Elfyn Evans/Craig Parry (GB/GB), Ford, + 5m 17.0s

10. Pontus Tidemand/Jonas Andersson (S/S), Škoda, + 5m 31.7s



FIA World Rally Championship (WRC), Rally Sweden – Power Stage Results


01. Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (F/F), Volkswagen, 7m 42.7s

02. Andreas Mikkelsen/Anders Jæger (N/N), Volkswagen, + 3.4s

03. Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle (GB/IRL), Citroën, + 9.0s





FIA World Rally Championship (WRC), Overall Standings*



Drivers’ Championship

1. Sébastien Ogier, 56 points; 2. Andreas Mikkelsen, 33; 3. Mads Østberg, 27; 4. Hayden Paddon, 18; 5. Dani Sordo, 18; 6. Ott Tänak, 16; 7. Thierry Neuville, 15; 8. Stéphane Lefebvre, 10; 9. Henning Solberg, 6; 10. Elfyn Evans, 6



Co-drivers’ Championship

1. Julien Ingrassia, 56 points; 2. Anders Jæger, 33; 3. Ola Fløene, 27; 4. John Kennard, 18; 5. Marc Martí, 18; 6. Raigo Mõlder, 16; 7. Nicolas Gilsoul, 15; 8. Gabin Moreau, 10; 9. Ilka Minor, 6; 10. Craig Parry, 6




Manufacturers’ Championship


1. Volkswagen Motorsport, 54 points; 2. Hyundai Motorsport, 49; 3. Volkswagen Motorsport II, 30; 4. M-Sport, 27; 5. DMACK, 18; 6. Hyundai Motorsport N, 14; 7. Yazeed Racing, 0

* Provisional.




Andre Dietzel, Ingo Roersch - photos Willy Weyens