Towards the end of Rally Greece Citroen protest against all three Volkswagen Polo R WRCs contesting the Acropolis Rally. The French team questioned the presence of a second battery in the boot of the Polo R WRCs, but the event stewards decided at close to 1am local time to declare the protest unfounded.

The Volkswagen press release said: “The Citroen Total Abu Dhabi Team launched a protest against the classification of the three Volkswagen Polo R WRCs. This protest was rejected due to a formal error.

“The manufacturer then filed a further two protests against Volkswagen Motorsport and Volkswagen Motorsport II (Andreas Mikkelsen’s car). 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 ferme 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.”

Citroen will not appeal the decision.