PoloDriver

A very tense and exciting Rally Sweden handed Volkswagen Motorsport’s Sébastien Ogier his second FIA 2015 World Rally Championship victory in as many events last weekend. The Frenchman fought off rally leader and team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen in a tense and dramatic final stage of a rally which was full of spectacle and where the battle between the two Volkswagen drivers was down to the wire.

In the end, a possible loss of concentration saw Mikkelsen suffer an off during the final Power Stage, handing Ogier the win. Mikkelsen hit a snow bank with the rear of his Polo, forcing the front into the snow, whereupon the car just dug in further, costing the Norwegian time. The world champion’s win meanwhile made it the 20th time in 27 Power Stages that a Volkswagen driver has collected the maximum haul of three points up for grabs at the crucial final stage.

Fast and furious pace
It all started at Shakedown, with Ogier declared the fastest driver. Mikkelsen set out his stall from the very beginning, setting the fifth quickest time. Finnish team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala was one place behind in sixth. After day one, Mikkelsen and co-driver Ola Fløene topped the overall placings, 19.1 seconds clear of Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville. The Norwegians had undoubtedly set the fast and furious pace among the metre-high snow banks lining the icy tracks.

The second loop saw Ogier and co-driver Julien Ingrassia gain on the front runners, though, with the French pair taking the lead on stage two. However, a rare slip saw them hit a snow bank near on the ‘Torsby’ stage the end of the first day. A deficit of 24.7 seconds behind Mikkelsen saw them down the field, but still within reach of the top-scoring teams.

Latvala and Miikka Anttila also came to grief on the very same stage. Moving into the virtual lead, the Finns left the road and had to call on the event’s spectators for help to get them going once more. Dropping a total of nine minutes, Latvala slipped down the points table, eventually finishing the event in 12th place.

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Volkswagen has continued where it left off at the end of the 2014 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC), and taken victory at the 2015 Rally Monte Carlo. The opening event of the 2015 season last weekend actually saw a Volkswagen podium lock-out, with Sébastien Ogier taking first place, Jari-Matti Latvala finishing in second, while Andreas Mikkelsen rounded out the third step of winners’ rostrum.

The second-generation Polo R WRC was unveiled a week prior to the legendary ‘Monte’, and with tweaks including a paddle-shift gearbox and 3bhp more powerful engine, powered Volkswagen to become only the fifth manufacturer ever to claim a one-two-three at one of the world’s most iconic motorsport events. Ogier and Latvala took control of the new-for-2015 Polo R WRC in Monte Carlo, while Mikkelsen and his co-driver Ola Fløene were piloting the 2014 championship-winning car.

23rd Polo R WRC victory
The Rally Monte Carlo 1-2-3 was Volkswagen Motorsport’s 23rd victory with the Polo R WRC, as well as the 11th time it has had more than one crew on the podium since it joined the WRC in 2013. It was Ogier and co-driver Julien Ingrassia’s 25th podium in Monte Carlo, the second consecutive year the pair have done so. Other manufacturers to have scored a Monte Carlo ‘triple’ finish are Audi, Citroën, Lancia and Renault-Alpine.

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While Volkswagen Motorsport in Germany was taking the covers of the 2015 Polo R WRC rally car on Thursday 15 January, Volkswagen Motorsport India was unwrapping the Volkswagen Vento Cup race car. The new Polo Sedan-based racer will star in the 2015 Volkswagen Vento Cup, a new one-make series which will replace the Volkswagen Polo R-Cup India which enjoyed its first season in 2010.

The unveiling in Pune saw the debut appearance of the Vento Cup racing car, based on the standard production car made at Volkswagen India’s Chakan factory. Rather than the road-going car’s 103bhp petrol or diesel engines, the Volkswagen Vento Cup cars will be powered by the 180bhp 1.4-litre TSI engines from the previous Polo R-Cup cars.

The Vento Cup machine has a dry weight of 1,225kg, an increase of 30kg over the previous Polo racer. A six-speed DSG gearbox sends the power to the front wheels, while compulsory FIA safety equipment includes a roll cage, a racing seat with six-point harness and a fire extinguisher.

The 2015 Volkswagen Vento Cup championship will run, as did the Polo series, in partnership with JK Tyre Motorsport. Registration is open now, and drivers will be placed in Junior, Pro and Masters classes. Entry fees start at Rs 8 lakhs for the Junior class, Rs 12 lakhs for Pro classifications, while the Masters drivers will pay up to Rs 14 lakhs for a seat.

Head of Volkswagen Motorsport India, Sirish Vissa said: ‘The Polo R-Cup car was more of a go-kart. This new car will require drivers to be more wary of the weight at the rear of the car but will also allow them to use the increased oversteer to get the car to turn in faster, too.’

Rayo Racing will aid driver selection, which will be completed by a series of karting heats. A pre-season training camp will then take place. The 2015 Volkswagen Vento Cup series will start in June. Interested drivers can register at www.volkswagen-motorsport.in.

Ahead of the 2015 Monte Carlo Rally next week, Volkswagen Motorsport pulled the covers off the second-generation Polo R WRC today in Wolfsburg. The car will contest the 2015 World Rally Championship. While full technical details will be released next week, the new 318bhp Polo R WRC has a paddle-operated hydraulically activated gearbox among its technological highlights.

The most striking difference between VW’s new rally weapon and the 2014 car is the external livery. Still keeping the blue and white colours of Volkswagen Motorsport, the new Polo R WRC’s livery also centres on its sponsors.

The dark blue of Red Bull dominates the front end, while paler blue bars fade into a white rear end, visually referencing the outgoing car. A new larger rear wing dominates the area above the rear window. Mysteriously, there are no ‘R’ badges on the car at all.

Volkswagen Motorsport states that around 75 per cent of the components used in the 2014 Polo R WRC have been further optimised for the new car, with the aim of making everything ‘simpler, lighter, and stronger’.

Volkswagen Board Member for Technical Development Dr Heinz-Jakob Neußer said: ‘The new Polo R WRC has undergone intense further development, both on the inside and the outside. Not only does it look even more dynamic and sporty than it did before, but our engineers have also been working meticulously on technical innovations under the bonnet.

‘We have improved many detailed aspects of the package that has been so successful for the past two years. The focus of this further development was on efficiency, reliability and performance.’

World rally champion Sébastien Ogier was excited with his new steed: ‘I am very optimistic that the new car will get off to just as good a start as its predecessor. We have done a lot of testing and we drivers have worked very closely with the engineers. We put a lot of effort into developing the new shift paddle, which represents real progress.’

Volkswagen number two driver Jari-Matti Latvala was equally revved up: ‘The new car feels really good, and we are ready for the new season – at last. We will be using the shift paddle on the steering wheel to change gear this year, and I really like it. On the whole, the new Polo is faster and even better than the 2014 car.’

Ogier and Latvala will line up at the start in Monte Carlo with the new-for-2015 car, while VW’s number three driver Andreas Mikkelsen will field the new and improved Polo R WRC from Rally Portugal, the fourth round of the 2015 World Rally Championship.

The 2015 FIA European Rallycross Championship (Euro RX) will see rallycross veteran Tommy Rustad drive a Marklund Motorsport-prepared Volkswagen Polo RX in all five rounds of the upcoming series. The Norwegian will also contest a World RX round in Höljes, Sweden.

Rustad finished sixth in the 2014 Euro RX series in a Volvo C30 prepared by HTB Racing and is also an international touring car series driver. Swedish outfit Marklund Motorsport finished second in the teams’ standings in the 2014 World RX series running a two-car 600bhp Polo RX crew. Drivers Toomas ‘Topi’ Heikinnen and Anton Marklund finished second and sixth in the Drivers’ Championship respectively.

‘I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity Marklund Motorsport and HTB Racing gives me to be able to have better conditions for success in Euro RX,’ said Rustad. ‘Marklund Motorsport is one of the most professional teams in rallycross and they have helped to develop the VW Polo RX Supercar into a winning machine. I’m looking forward to testing the car working together with Anton Marklund and Toomas Heikkinen.’

Jan Marklund, Marklund Motorsport Team Principal, added: ‘We are absolutely delighted about this opportunity to offer a Volkswagen Polo RX Supercar to Tommy Rustad for the Euro RX series. Tommy isa very fast and experienced race driver. With our Volkswagen Polo RX he will be a top contender for the coveted Euro RX title in 2015. His presence will also boost our team and drivers – Anton and Topi – to go even faster in their World RX campaign.’

Marklund Motorsport teamed up with Volkswagen Motorsport to mount a factory-approved assault on the 2014 FIA Global Rallycross Championship in February last year, the start of a three-year partnership.