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FIA WRC champions crowned in Paris
After 13 rounds and 4,393.23 stage kilometres, this year's World Rally Championship concluded on Friday night when the champions' received their silverware at a glittering FIA prize-giving ceremony at the Lido theatre in Paris.
Volkswagen collected the biggest haul, taking a clean sweep of the Manufacturers' and Drivers' WRC titles for the third consecutive season.
Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia again raised the drivers' and co-drivers' trophies, with their team-mates Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila and Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Fløene collecting second and third places respectively.
“It is a great feeling to be world champion again. And I think I only realise what we achieved now holding the trophy for the third time in my hands," said Ogier. "From a sporting point of view, this season has been a virtually perfect one for Julien and me. Except for Spain we did no mistakes, and went always maximum flat out.
"This success though would not have been possible without the magnificent team spirit and fantastic job done by everyone in the Volkswagen team – Julien and I are particularly grateful to them! It will be very, very difficult to improve on a run of success like this next year. The opposition and our rivals will not relax over the winter - but we will also be ready.”
Volkswagen were again untouchable in the Manufacturers' contest and the Polo R WRC was the power behind 12 victories and 26 podium results in 2015. After just three years on the stages the car has claimed 34 victories from 39 events and has become the most successful model in WRC history.
“The grand FIA gala is always the icing on the cake at the end of a long and arduous year,” reflected Volkswagen Motorsport Director Jost Capito. “No other motorsport world championship has such a long season as the WRC. And nowhere are the technical and sporting challenges greater than in the WRC, with rallies held on gravel, asphalt, and ice and snow.
"We can look back on our most successful season to date in the World Rally Championship, but are also already in the midst of preparing for the next season, which starts six weeks after the FIA gala with the first special stage of Rally Monte Carlo.”
The support championship winners were also crowned, led by WRC 2 victors Nasser Al-Attiyah and his co-driver Mathieu Baumel. The Qatari's victory in Spain rounded off an impressive season, in which he and Baumel also won the FIA Middle East Rally Championship and the FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies.
Škoda Motorsport won all their seven nominated events to take a commanding victory in the WRC 2 Championship for Teams, while Italians Gianluca Linari and Nicola Arena won the Production Cup within WRC 2.
The FIA Junior WRC Championship trophies were presented to Frenchman Quentin Gilbert and his co-driver Renaud Jamoul. Gilbert’s five wins during the season also earned him the FIA WRC 3 title and ensured France claimed the Nations Trophy.
Printsport won the WRC 3 Championship for Teams courtesy of its crew of Ole Christian Veiby and Anders Jaeger. The five-round inaugural FIA RGT Cup was presented to the Porsche crew François Delecour and co-driver Dominique Savignoni.
