They’ve done it again. In a repeat of last year, Volkswagen’s Sébastien Ogier together with co-driver Julien Ingrassia have secured the 2014 World Rally Championship Drivers’ title. There’s still one more round to go this season, but after taking out this past weekend’s Rally Spain the French duo cannot be caught in the overall standings.
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Ogier and Ingrassia have an unassailable 242 points in the Drivers’ championship; and thanks to the efforts of their teammates Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila, who remain in second with 2011 points, VW has secured its second-straight WRC Manufacturers’ title with 416 points. Incredibly, the VW Motorsport squad won 11 of the 12 events so far, with Hyundai only taking out the Rally Germany after the two cars fielded by VW retired. The 13th and final round takes place in Wales in mid-November.
Third in the Drivers’ standings goes to Andreas Mikkelsen of VW Motorsport’s feeder team, who had two co-drivers this season, Mikko Markkula and Ola Fløene. Currently second in the Manufacturers’ standings is Citroën with 187 points and in third is the U.K.’s M-Sport with 180 points.
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Note, placings are yet to be officially confirmed by the FIA, motorsport’s governing body.
Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia
The Frenchman now joins the likes of Walter Röhrl (1980, 1982), Carlos Sainz (1990, 1992) and Marcus Grönholm (2000, 2002) who have all achieved double titles in WRC. Of course, the target to beat is the incredible nine titles of fellow Frenchman Sébastien Loeb.
Volkswagen’s rally car for the 2014 season is the Polo R WRC. It’s relatively unchanged from last year’s car, which means it packs a 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine. Thanks to direct-injection and turbocharging technologies, the tiny mill outputs a healthy 300 horsepower—even with an air restrictor.
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