Volkswagen hunts elusive home victory
Germany is the only WRC round the Polo R is yet to win
News in brief: Thursday in Germany
A round-up of stories that are making the news before the start of ADAC Rallye Deutschland.
Tänak and Evans: Game on!
Ott Tänak and Elfyn Evans were given an early taste of ADAC Rallye Deutschland competition on Wednesday courtesy of the upcoming WRC 5 video game. The M-Sport team-mates [pictured above] drove their own Ford Fiesta RS cars in a preview version of the game that will go on sale later this year. "I haven't played video games for a while and they've certainly come on a bit!" said an impressed Evans. "It looks terrific and I think it's a great way to bring the sport home to people's living rooms." Click here for more information about the game.
Abbring unshaken after shakedown crash.
Kevin Abbring will start the rally tonight as planned after crashing his Hyundai i20 on today's pre-event Shakedown. The Dutchman slid wide and clouted a kerb early on his fourth pass. "We were playing with the ride height and wanted to do one more run - but in hindsight we made it too low," he told wrc.com. "I bottomed out in the first corner, drifted wide, hit a kerb and broke a hub." A team of Hyundai mechanics was sent to fit a new hub on the spot and Abbring drove the car back to service for a thorough check and some light bodywork repairs. Last year his team-mate Thierry Neuville was in a similar situation after Shakedown and went on to win the rally. Abbring however is not getting carried away. "Maybe it's a good omen but I'm not proud that it happened," he said. "At least it gave me confirmation that the ride height we have is the ride height we need."
Latvala's ongoing Sisu.
At his request, Jari-Matti Latvala's car for ADAC Rally Deutschland is sporting the same #SISU Twitter hashtag on its boot that it did when he won the last round in Finland. All three of Volkswagen's Polo R cars were due to carry Facebook logos this weekend to mark 5 million followers of the manufacturer's motorsport page. But Latvala asked to keep his sisu tag - a Finnish word which roughly translates as strength and determination in the face of adversity - for good luck.
Ogier's title expectations.
Sébastien Ogier has played down his chances of securing a third consecutive drivers' title this weekend. For the first time this season the Frenchman can seal the deal if he extends his current lead of 89 points by 23 to make it 112. But today Ogier insisted he didn't think it would happen this week. "Okay, somewhere it is in my mind, because winning the title is target number one for the season, but it is only a mathematical chance," he said. "A lot of things need to happen and I don’t have all the parameters in my hand. I prefer to focus on this rally, which is difficult enough. We had some trouble here over the past years, but I want to correct the mistakes from the past years. And then the championship hopefully will follow in one of the next events."
