Wales Rally GB, the final round of the
2013 FIA World Rally Championship, lived up to its reputation as one of the
most complex events of the season. The mud and extremely slippery Welsh forest
tracks proved a gruelling test for the drivers, but the soft-compound MICHELIN
LATITUDE Cross S3 enabled them to produce some outstanding performances and put
on an exciting show for spectators.
This is an event that traditionally
throws rain, wind, fog and sometimes even snow at competitors, but this year’s
weather conditions proved less delicate than expected. Even so, the sky
remained threatening and the temperatures were chilly throughout, and the
absence of rain had a direct influence on team strategies since the crews had
to contend with big differences in the amount of grip they encountered compared
to what they had come across during their rainy recce earlier in the week. More
difficult still was the thin layer of mud that coated the rocky base and made
it as slippery as if it were covered in a layer of wet moss.
The second passes were even more of a
challenge. After the cars had been through once, the hard-packed roads became
incredibly slippery in places where the stony base was now covered in a film of
packed dirt. Thankfully, our MICHELIN tyres were perfectly suited to the
situation and delivered the necessary grip and responsiveness to permit some
fast times and I was always able to push that little bit harder whenever I
wanted to. This year’s Wales Rally GB was all about knowing where to lift just
enough not to go off the road for good…”
The world champion’s words were echoed
by those of Jacques MORELLI, manager of MICHELIN’s rally programmes: “I
would obviously like to congratulate Sébastien OGIER on his brilliant
performance which brings an exceptional season for him and our partner
Volkswagen Motorsport to a successful end. I would also like to underline the
job done by the MICHELIN LATITUDE Cross S3 and how well it stood up to the
punishment that this year’s Wales Rally GB threw at it.
Add water and mud to
the stone- and slate-covered stages and you get a particularly aggressive mix,
and it was important to protect against the risk of sharp rocks slashing the
tyres. At the end of the day, though, our partners didn’t suffer any punctures
whatsoever. I believe that speaks volumes for the hard work put in by
MICHELIN’s developers ahead of the 2013 season. The regulations for this year
were very demanding because of the lower tyre quotas per event, yet all our
solutions rose to their mission to provide our partners with an exceptionally
high level of overall performance.”
Wales Rally GB, last round of the 2013 World Rally Championship, saw another victory of Sebastien Ogier (ninth victory of the year), taking Volkswagen/Michelin's score to 10 wins from 13 rounds!
Last month, the 2013 Rally de Espana saw Sébastien Ogier and Jari-Matti Latvala earn Volkswagen’s first one-two finish in the WRC, as well as its first Manufacturers’ world title. The French pair’s victory also brought Michelin a 23rd Manufacturers’ crown.
It is finally Jari-Matti Latvala who finished second in Wales but the podium honours sufficed for Thierry Neuville to come second in this season's WRC.
The final drivers' ranking for 2013 WRC is:
http://en.best-of-rallylive.com/Rubriques/WRC/2013-WRC-Drivers
More news on: http://en.best-of-rallylive.com/Rubriques/WRC
You can also listen to http://www.radiolemans.com /All the world titles were settled: WRC (Ogier and Volkswagen), WRC-2 (Kubica), WRC-3 (Chardonnet) and Junior-WRC (Tidemand). One of the main focuses this week-end was therefore the scrap between Neuville and Latvala for runner-up honours. The two drivers were split by 14 points, with the advantage in favour of the Belgian youngster. Press Release
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