PoloDriver

US TV star Tanner Foust celebrated his first 2014 Red Bull Rallycross Championship (GRC) victory of the season on 12-13 July, as he won the race in Uniondale at the wheel of his Polo RX Supercar. He follows in the tyre tracks of his Andretti Autosport team-mate Scott Speed, who has claimed two 2014 Red Bull Global Rallycross Championship wins from three rounds.

It was a rough race. Foust, a two-time rallycross champion asserted himself ahead of Speed at the specially constructed 751 metre-long circuit at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum from the off. After two red-flagged starts and much paint-rubbing, the US pair both looked to be bringing home trophies with a Volkswagen 1-2 finish.

However, Speed suffered a disqualification for ignoring a flag during the race, handing second place to Nelson Piquet Junior. An unapproved adjustment done under the first red flag of the race was Speed’s downfall. Under the championship’s supplemental regulations, he was penalized from that point forward, resulting in a ninth-place finish.

Foust used the sub-two-second 0-60mph launches of the Rockstar Energy Drink Polo RX to maximum effect, blazing off the line. ‘The starts were the critical factor for me here,’ said Foust. ‘It can be very difficult to make a pass on a tight rallycross course and getting out front early and staying out of trouble is key to winning.’

‘Ultimately, it was a great end to a long weekend,’ said Foust. ‘The two guys with the most road racing and oval experience—Scott Speed and Nelson Piquet Jr— certainly were the ones to beat. Luckily it’s still a rallycross start, and I was able to get the nose of the No 34 Rockstar Energy Drink Volkswagen in there off the line.’

Speed commented: ‘Obviously it was a “not to plan” weekend for the No 77 7UP Volkswagen. We were the fastest car all weekend during practice and heat sessions and then we had engine problems on our starts. The Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross team did an incredible job, and the car definitely took a beating out there as we were pushing through the field.’

Speed is still second in the Drivers’ Championship point table, with a total of 149. The next round of the the Red Bull Global Rallycross Championship will be in Concord, NC, at The Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway, from 26-26 July.

2014 RED BULL GLOBAL RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

NEW YORK: FINAL RESULTS
1 Tanner Foust, #34 Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross Polo
2 Nelson Piquet Jr, #07 SH Racing Rallycross Ford Fiesta ST
3 Ken Block, #43 Hoonigan Racing Division Ford Fiesta ST
4 Joni Wiman, #31 Olsbergs MSE Ford Fiesta ST
5 Steve Arpin, #00 Royal Purple Racing/OMSE2 Ford Fiesta

2014 RED BULL GLOBAL RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 Nelson Piquet Jr, 184

2 Scott Speed, 149
3 Steve Arpin, 140
4 Joni Wiman, 124
5 Patrik Sandell, 116

2014 RED BULL GLOBAL RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

TEAMS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 Ford, 373
2 Volkswagen, 244
3 Subaru, 117
4 Hyundai, 86
5 Chevrolet, 3

He’s the sixth different winner in as many rounds, but no matter, Toomas ‘Topi’ Heikinnen drove his Polo RX Supercar to victory at the Belgian round of the 2014 FIA World Rallycross Championship at Mettet. The young Finn showed consistently strong driving at the 1km-long Circuit Jules Tacheny over the weekend of 12-13 July.

Heikinnen and his 600bhp four-wheel drive Polo were third after the opening two heats, while team-mate Anton Marklund held first. But, during the final race, Heikinnen pulled out all the stops, to claim the top spot on the podium, with Marklund in fifth.

‘Topi’ was more than pleased with performance: ‘I am absolutely over the moon. It is my first World Rallycross Championship win and I hope now that this is just the start of a fantastic second half of the season.’

Victory in Belgium had added benefits for Heikinnen as he climbed one position in the World Championship standings. The Finn now lies third with 117 points. Marklund is currently fifth with 85 points.

Team Peugeot Hansen driver Timmy Hansen finished second with Johan Kristofferson third in another Polo – one of a pair run by the Volkswagen Dealer Team / Kristofferson Motorsport outfit in Sweden. Kristofferson’s podium position was only his second World RX outing this year, and was also crowned the winner of the third round of the FIA European Rallycross Championship (Euro RX).

‘This is only the second race for us and I would have been happy just finishing in the semi-finals,’ said Kristofferson who was also awarded the Monster Energy Super Charge Award after his rapid start. ‘To get to the final was amazing and to be on the podium is just the best feeling! We had a really good start in the final race as we were in pole position and I think that’s what really helped us get here.’

Other Polos in action over the 31 per cent gravel and 69 per cent circuit included local driver Francois Duval who lives less than 30 miles from Mettet. Piloting another Polo RX run by Marklund Motorsport, Duval is the only Belgian driver to win a round of the World Rally Championship.

He has a strong track record in rallycross after winning the Belgian round of the European Rallycross Championship when it was held at Maasmechelen back in 2010. ‘The car seems to be performing well and I’ll be aiming for a good result,’ explained Duval before the event. In the end, the Belgian set a good pace in the Belgian VW Club / Gordon and Raemaekers Polo RX, but finished the event out of the top twelve rankings.

The Polo S1600 of Christian Petrakovits finished fifth in Heat 4 of the Super 1600 category, while the Polo of Patrick Mertens came home fifth in the first semi-final of the Touring Car classification.

The next round of the championship will take place at the Circuit Trois-Rivières in Canada between 7-8 August.

2014 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 Petter Solberg, 125
2 Reinis Nitiss, 122

3 Toomas Heikkinen, 117
4 Andreas Bakkerud, 99

5 Anton Marklund, 85

2014 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

TEAMS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1 Ford Olsbergs MSE, 221

2 Volkswagen Marklund, 202

3 Team Peugeot-Hansen, 154
4 PSRX, 117

5 Monster Energy World RX Team, 60

Manitou Group Volkswagen Polo R2 co-driver Henry Kohne looks back on the challenging and disappointing 2014 Volkswagen Rally

 
The Volkswagen Rally which took part on the weekend of 11-12 July 2014 presented the Manitou Group Rally team with yet another character-building weekend. This being the home event for Volkswagen, the team had the VW Polo R2 prepared to perfection and was ready to put in the effort for a good result.
 
The event started in Uitenhage – the South African home of the Polo and where it is built – and after the first gravel stage the team found themselves right among the top competitors in the S1600 class. Unfortunately soon after, in the following stage, the Manitou Group VW Polo R2 lost third gear, presenting a huge challenge to the team to complete the next three gravel stages without third gear.
 
Managing to get to the service park at the end of day one, the service crew did a great job in changing the gearbox of the Polo R2 in 45 minutes. Without losing too much time the team was in seventh position at the end of day one with only seconds separating them to fifth position, the challenge was on.
 
Bad luck continued on day two, getting a puncture on the second gravel stage of the day the team lost even more time. Just as the team thought things couldn’t get any worse, they picked up engine trouble in the next super special stage and were forced to retire from the event.
 
‘This was truly a frustrating event for the Manitou Group Rally team, we had plain bad luck. The whole team put so much effort into this event. Although it was a disappointment to retire we have once again learned a lot and would be working harder towards the next event,’ added Paulus Franken.
 
The Manitou Group Rally team can be seen in action again on 15-16 August at the Ford Dealer Rally in the Cullinan, Gauteng area.
 
Thanks to the support we receive from Manitou Group, Volkswagen Motorsport and SASOL Racing. Follow us at: www.facebook.com/Manitougroupsarallyteam

It was success all round for the Volkswagen Sasolracing team at the Volkswagen Rally on 11-12 July. Not only did the pairing of Hans Weijs Jnr and Björn Degandt claim third on the podium, but Volkswagen Sasolracing won both the Team and Manufacturer’s Award at the event on the Eastern Cape.

Weijs and Degandt drove their Polo S2000 in challenging conditions over 15 stages, crossing the finish line at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium just ahead of their team-mates Gugu Zulu and Carl Peskin.

Weijs and Degandt ended the first day in third place, while Zulu and Peskin were sixth. ‘The Longmore Forest stages were just as good as I expected,’ Weijs reported. ‘We are doing well in the championship and our goal now is not just to finish on the podium – now we want to win.’

With two second-fastest stage times for the pair in the Volkswagen Rally, Zulu and Peskin are picking up the pace in their first S2000 season. ‘The Volkswagen Rally is renowned for being a very testing event, but it rates as one of the best in the country,’ said Zulu.

‘We have some work to do in terms of rhythm inside the car to make it a bit smoother, but the team have provided me with a fantastic car, now we just have to get it all together.’

The rally started well for Henk Lategan and Barry White as they produced the second-quickest time in the opening stage and were among the top five in nine of the 15 stages. Unfortunately hitting one of the many tree stumps in the forest forced them into a ditch and early retirement.

Mike Rowe, Head of Volkswagen Motorsport South Africa, was pleased with his team. ‘Hans and Björn drove well to achieve a podium position. The team is making good progress and now, with a second in the championship with four rounds to go, we are in a strong position for the fight to the end of the season.’

Raimund Baumschlager and his navigator Klaus Wicha joined the team for the Eastern Cape event. Volkswagen received the Manufacturer’s Award for the most points scored, while Weijs and Degandt and Lategan and White received the Team Award.

Other Polo finishers included Chad Van Beurden and Nico Swartz who came home sixth in their Polo S1600, 10th place AC Potgieter and Tommy du Toit (Polo S1600), 11th place Andrew Heine and Robbie Coetzee in another Polo S16000, and Paulus Franken and Henry Kohne who drove the Manitou Group Polo R2 to seventeenth place.

Polos which didn’t complete the event included the cars of Thilo Himmel and Armand Du Toit, and Raimund Baumschlager and Klaus Wicha. The fifth round of the 2014 South African National Rally Championship will see the Volkswagen Sasolracing team head to Gauteng on 15 and 16 July for the Ford Dealer Rally.

It was Mathew Hodges who showed the rest of the field how to set the pace at the fourth round of the South African 2014 Engen Volkswagen Cup in East London on the Eastern Cape. The two races saw many close battles and fierce competition over the races’ 16 laps.

Masters class driver Hodges was dominant throughout the race day on 6 July and was rewarded with overall victory at the event. This moves him up to fourth place overall in the championship drivers’ standings and first place in the Masters category.

Hodges had competition in race one from Daniel Rowe and Dewald Brummer, with both fighting for the front of the field. Brummer was fastest qualifier while Rowe started on pole as a result of the top-six driver draw.

Hodges took advantage of contact between the pair and led the pack before a red flag stopped the race two laps early after an accident which saw Noel Greyling’s Polo Vivo suffer significant damage.

Brummer took victory in race two after 10 laps, with Sheldon van der Linde finishing second and posting the fastest lap time in the process. Hodges rounded out the podium, boosting him to the top of the race day results and sending him to the top of the Masters’ points table.

The fifth round of the 2014 Engen Volkswagen Cup will be at the Phakisa Freeway in Welkom on 2 August.

RACE RESULTS

Race 1

1 Mathew Hodges (M3: ITR Africa / 959 Panelbeaters)
2 Daniel Rowe (11: Ferodo Racing)
3Dewald Brummer (2: MAD Racing / Grand Prix Models)

Race 2
1 Dewald Brummer (2: MAD Racing / Grand Prix Models)
2 Sheldon van der Linde (16: Ferodo Racing)
3 Mathew Hodges (M3: ITR Africa / 959 Panelbeaters)

Overall
1 Mathew Hodges (M3: ITR Africa / 959 Panelbeaters)
2 Dewald Brummer (2: MAD Racing / Grand Prix Models)
3 Daniel Rowe (11: Ferodo Racing)

MASTERS
Race 1
1 Mathew Hodges (M3: ITR Africa / 959 Panelbeaters)
2 Trevor Bland (M6: PG Glass / Suburban Panelbeaters)
3 Juan Gerber (M8: Haupt Racing)

Race 2
1 Mathew Hodges (M3: ITR Africa / 959 Panelbeaters)
2 Trevor Bland (M6: PG Glass / Suburban Panelbeaters)
3 Juan Gerber (M8: Haupt Racing)