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NEWS
MOTORSPORT: Breakthrough rally win for Volkswagen
German manufacturer Volkswagen has quickly beaten French rival Citroen in the World Rally ChampionshipRivals fear Polo R's 'scary' potential
Volkswagen has won at just its second start in the World Rally Championship, with Frenchman Sebastien Ogier scoring the historic victory with the Polo R on the snow and ice of Rally Sweden.
VW's second entry driven by Finn Jari-Matti Latvala came within 6.1 seconds of the podium but could not overhaul the Ford Fiesta R of Norwegian Mads Ostberg.
Ogier's success turned the tables on his former manufacturer Citroen and nine-time world champion Sebastien Loeb, his compatriot who had won the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally ahead of him three weeks ago with the Citroen DS3.
VW's rivals talked of the Polo's "scary" potential after its Swedish success. VW team chief Jost Capito had conservatively sought only podium finishes this season, with victory publicly targeted next year.
Ogier and Loeb were tense teammates at Citroen until the younger man left at the end of 2011 to develop the 1.6-litre turbocharged Polo while driving a car supplied by sister brand Skoda in a transition season in the WRC.
VW has never won the WRC but it ran Golfs in world rallying in the 1980s and there were some privateer entries in the '90s.
Ogier established a half-minute lead over Loeb on the opening day in Sweden and withstood his great rival's efforts on the final day, stretching the gap to 41 seconds. He scored a maximum 28 points after taking the final power stage and leads the world championship by three points, with Loeb only driving two more rallies this year – and not until Argentina in May.
Loeb said he and Citroen lost in Sweden in last Thursday's qualifying.
"We didn't have good road position and he (Ogier) ran a perfect rally," Loeb said.
It was Ogier's eighth WRC win but his first since Rally of France 17 months ago. It was only the second time a non-Scandanavian driver had won in Sweden – the other was Loeb in 2004. The event also had some stages in Norway.
The French quinella this year marked the worst result for the Nordics in the rally's history. Citroen's full-time WRC drivers since Loeb went part-time to develop the manufacturer's world touring car, Finn Mikko Hirvonen and Spaniard Dani Sordo, failed to score points in Sweden. Hirvonen finished 16th while Sordo crashed out.
The third round of the WRC is in Mexico in early March, with Australia's Chris Atkinson making a one-off return in a Citroen.
World Rally Championship after two rounds – 1. Sebastien Ogier (France, Volkswagen Polo R) 46 points; 2. Sebastien Loeb (France, Citroen DS3) 43; 3. Mads Ostberg (Norway, Ford Fiesta R) 24; 4. Dani Sordo (Spain, Citroen DS3) 18; 5. Jari-Matti Latvala (Finland, Volkswagen Polo R) 13; 6. Mikko Hirvonen (Finland, Citroen DS3) 12.
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Written byGeoffrey Harris
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