Latvala, Volkswagen dominate 2015 Rally Portugal

Volkswagen's Jari-Matti Latvala claimed the fifth round of the 2015 World Rally Championship (WRC) in Portugal.

Latvala finished 8.2 seconds ahead of his two Volkswagen teammates: Sébastien Ogier and Andreas Mikkelsen. With this, Latvala registered his 13^th career rally victory and has improved his standing in the drivers championship to fifth place.

Latvala, who failed to score in the previous three rounds, said that this win is very important to him.

“That was a very important win! Not just for me, but for the entire team. That was the right response to the poor result in Argentina. For me personally, it was important to get back in the points after my long lean period – and to do that with a win is awesome,” Latvala said.

Ogier, the current leader in this year's championship, tried to take the pole position during the final day of the 2015 Rally Portugal. However, Latvala was determined to claim the win. Despite finishing in second place, Ogier did enough to extend his lead at the drivers' standings to 42 points.

Volkswagen's one-two-three victory was completed by Andreas Mikkelsen who finished ahead of Rally Mexico winner Kris Meeke.

The next round of the 2015 WRC will be staged in Italy on June 11 to 14.