Following Volkswagen’s success at the Rally Greece and the presentation ceremony, at which FIA President Jean Todt officially presented Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila (FIN/FIN) with the winner’s trophy, the victorious Volkswagen team was surprised to hear of a protest.
The protest concerned rally winner Jari-Matti Latvala, Andreas Mikkelsen/Mikko Markkula (N/FIN) who finished fourth, and the winners of the Power Stage, SĂ©bastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (F/F). The protest was dismissed as unsubstantiated.
The Citroën Total Abu Dhabi Team launched a protest against the classification of the three Volkswagen Polo R WRCs driven by Latvala/Anttila, Mikkelsen/Markkula and Ogier/Ingrassia. This protest was rejected due to a formal error. The manufacturer then filed a further two protests against “Volkswagen Motorsport” (Latvala/Ogier) and “Volkswagen Motorsport II” (Mikkelsen). These protests also exhibited mistakes in their content, but were accepted by the sports commissioners. Both sides were summoned to a hearing to explain their viewpoints.
The protests were directed at batteries, which, exclusively during Parc Fermé periods, are left in the cars overnight as spare parts and are then removed the following morning before leaving the Service Park. This has been common practice in the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) for years. A technical delegate of the FIA approved this procedure prior to the 2013 season, upon explicit inquiry from Volkswagen.
After extensive consultation, the sports commissioners dismissed the protests as unsubstantiated.
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