Le Mans 2013

An eventful and traumatic Le Mans 24 hours has drawn to a close and despite numerous safety car periods, ever changing weather conditions and the tragic accident that befell Allan Simonsen both Audi and Porsche are able to look back on a successful race.

Audi Sport Team Joest won the 2013 event outright with their Audi R18 e-tron quattro (car number 2) ably driven by Tom Kristensen, Allan McNish and Loïc Duval. Third overall was Audi number 3 driven by Marc Gené, Lucas di Grassi and Oliver Jarvis. Last year's winners (car 1) Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer and Benoît Treluyer endured a difficult race finally claiming fifth overall.

Porsche won two classes in this year's race; 
Porsche AG Team Manthey and the number 92 car of Romain Dumas, Marc Lieb and Richard Leitz won the LM GTE Pro class in their Porsche 911 RSR with the team mates Jorg Bergmeister, Timo Bernhard and Patrick Pilet bringing their Porsche AG Team Manthey 911 RSR home in second.

Meanwhile the number 76 IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche 911 GT3 RSR of Christophe Bourret, Raymond Narac and Jean-Karl Vernay took the honours in the LM GTE Am class.

Rally Italia Sardegna

Sébastien Ogier dominated this year’s Rally Italia Sardegna adding yet another victory to his 2013 total in his Volkswagen Polo R WRC. Snatching the lead on the first stage the ever impressive Frenchman extended his margin of victory to over 1 minute 16 seconds by the end of the last stage in Italy.

Jari-Matti Latvala overcame a large loss of time (approx 2 minutes) with a first stage puncture to claim 3^rd overall whilst the third factory Volkswagen Motorsport Polo R WRC of Andreas Mikkelsen retired with broken suspension late on in the last day.

Latvala was buoyed by his performance knowing his early time loss was the only reason he couldn’t challenge for victory, his confidence is high as the WRC now moves to Finland, Jari-Matti’s home event. Sébastien is also extremely confident and hopes to continue his good form through to Finland as he aims to be one of the very few non-Scandinavians drivers to win what is commonly known as the Finnish Grand Prix.

Mikkelsen meanwhile may be lamenting the off which resulted in his suspension breaking although team boss Jost Capito was more than please with his young star’s performance saying “things like that happen when you attack”. Andreas had been pilling the pressure on 4^th placed Sordo having noticeably increased his speed during the event as he gains more experience of both the team and the VW Polo R WRC.

Volkswagen Motorsport must be looking forward to Finland and the challenges the fast, flowing crest filled roads offer.

1	S. OGIER / J. INGRASSIA
2	T. Neuville / N. Gilsoul
3	J-M. LATVALA / M. ANTTILA
4	D. Sordo / C. Del Barrio
5	M. Prokop / M. Ernst

Rally Italia Sardegna

Volkswagen Polo driver Sebastien Ogier leads Rally Italia Sardegna at the end of day one by 46.6 seconds.
His Volkswagen team mate Jari-Matti Latvala is fifth overall despite dropping 2 minutes with a first stage puncture (pictured).
The third Volkswagen Motorsport Polo R WRC currently occupies sixth overall, Andreas Mikkelsen having ceded his fifth place to Jari-Matti Latavla on the final night stage of today.

1. S OGIER
2. M Hirvonen
3. T Neuville
4. D Sordo
5. J-M LATVALA
6. A MIKKELSEN
7. M Prokop
8. M Kosciuszko
9. E Evans
10. R Kubica