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15th
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Six World Rally Championship titles and 75 victories at WRC rounds: this is the impressive tally of the four rally stars that will be competing in the Legends classification of the Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup round at the Nürburgring this weekend.
The drift aces Markku Alén, Juha Kankkunen, Carlos Sainz and Sébastien Ogier are pitted against the 21 regular drivers of the German one-make cup just one week before the ADAC Rallye Deutschland in the Eifel region.
But the title fight of the Scirocco R-Cup delivers suspense as well. Particularly the runner-up in the standings, Adam Gładysz, after having clinched three second places in the near-285-horsepower Cup Scirocco powered by a bio natural gas engine, is shooting for his first victory of the season in order to maintain his chances of winning the championship against leader of the standings Ola Nilsson.
Here are the rally legends:
• The Finn Markku Alén (61) in 1978 won the FIA Cup, the predecessor of the World Rally Championship and scored victories at a total of 19 WRC rallies.
• Alén's compatriot Juha Kankkunen (53), with four titles (in 1986, 1987, 1991 and 1993), 23 rally wins and 821 WRC points, was the WRC record holder for a long time.
• Spaniard Carlos Sainz (50) was ranking among the absolute top of the crop in rallying for nearly two decades. "El Matador” won 24 of his 180 WRC events and in 1990 and 1992 clinched the WRC titles as well.
• At the age of 28, Sébastien Ogier is the youngster among the Legends entrants at the Eifel circuit. The Frenchman is the first racer to have been signed by Volkswagen for the WRC commitment with the Polo R WRC that commences in 2013. With his race experience limited to a pair of outings in the French F4 single-seater of the Auto Sport Academy last year, Ogier is looking forward to the challenge.
The drift aces Markku Alén, Juha Kankkunen, Carlos Sainz and Sébastien Ogier are pitted against the 21 regular drivers of the German one-make cup just one week before the ADAC Rallye Deutschland in the Eifel region.
But the title fight of the Scirocco R-Cup delivers suspense as well. Particularly the runner-up in the standings, Adam Gładysz, after having clinched three second places in the near-285-horsepower Cup Scirocco powered by a bio natural gas engine, is shooting for his first victory of the season in order to maintain his chances of winning the championship against leader of the standings Ola Nilsson.
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| Photo: VW Motorsport |
Here are the rally legends:
• The Finn Markku Alén (61) in 1978 won the FIA Cup, the predecessor of the World Rally Championship and scored victories at a total of 19 WRC rallies.
• Alén's compatriot Juha Kankkunen (53), with four titles (in 1986, 1987, 1991 and 1993), 23 rally wins and 821 WRC points, was the WRC record holder for a long time.
• Spaniard Carlos Sainz (50) was ranking among the absolute top of the crop in rallying for nearly two decades. "El Matador” won 24 of his 180 WRC events and in 1990 and 1992 clinched the WRC titles as well.
• At the age of 28, Sébastien Ogier is the youngster among the Legends entrants at the Eifel circuit. The Frenchman is the first racer to have been signed by Volkswagen for the WRC commitment with the Polo R WRC that commences in 2013. With his race experience limited to a pair of outings in the French F4 single-seater of the Auto Sport Academy last year, Ogier is looking forward to the challenge.