PoloDriver

The third round of the South African National Rally Championship saw two Volkswagen Sasolracing Polo S2000s finish in the top five places. Enzo Kuun and Douglas Judd claimed third overall, while Henk Lategan and Barry White were the fifth car home. Two days of dusty competition saw the crews drive 10 stages, with Lategan and White the fastest Polo S2000 on day one, holding onto third place overnight. Kuun and Judd were two places below. Day two saw Lategan and White overshoot a stage, costing them valuable time and two places. Kuun and Judd meanwhile remained consistently within the top five stage finishers on the second day to improve their standings and take their first 2013 podium.

‘We started off well and our times were quite good,’ said Lategan. ‘We were perhaps a little too cautious on this event, though, and should have pushed harder. What we do have is a top five finish for the weekend, which remains a good result.’ Kuun was pleased with his and Judd’s result. ‘The credit for this victory must go to the Volkswagen Sasolracing team, a massive achievement for them and a just reward for all their hard work,’ says Kuun. ‘This event was a big step for me after the first round accident and having to handle all the jumps this weekend. This has been a chance to build real confidence going forward.’

Fellow Polo S2000 pilots Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries were fast from the off, the pair third in stage one and claiming victories in both stages two and three. A technical issue saw them miss the rest of the first day, however, and they entered day two under Super Rally rules. Here they immediately went into battle claiming a fourth, two second places and a stage victory to finish 11th overall on the event. ‘We had a good run on day one, leading the rally,’ says Fekken. ‘We stayed with the leaders and did good times today under the Super Rally rules and the Volkswagen Sasolracing Polo S2000 is very good. Our issue on day one was unfortunate but we still made a strong showing this weekend.’

For reigning S2000 Challenge champions, Gugu Zulu and Carl Peskin, the Gauteng event started on an unexpected, but exciting note, when Peskin received a call to say his wife had gone into labour three weeks early. He rushed home to be present for the birth of his daughter, Cameron. Gerhard Snyman, who normally navigates for Japie van Niekerk, stepped in to aid Zulu as co-driver. The pair put in a good performance on the event, despite not having worked together before. An accident by another competitor in the final stage saw Zulu and Snyman sent to parc fermé instead of completing the stage. With just a minute needed for them to claim victory in the S2000 Challenge category, the final stage incident came as a disappointment. The pair still brought their Volkswagen Sasolracing Polo Vivo S2000 home second in the S2000 Challenge category – seventh place overall.

Other Polo finishers included Chad van Beurden and Henry Dearlove who placed 19th, and Paul Franken and Henry Kohne who came in 28th. Unfortunately Megan Verlaque and Oliver Verlaque in a Super 1600 Polo Vivo failed to finish the event. The Volkswagen Sasolracing team, meanwhile, will compete next in their home event, the Volkswagen Rally, on 19-20 July when they bring national rally action to fans in the Eastern Cape.

At last, he’s done it! Jari-Matti Latvala and co-driver Miikka Anttila finally finished first in a round of the FIA 2013 World Rally Championship over the weekend, clinching the top podium position at the Rally Greece. Volkswagen’s fourth win from six rounds so far this season, there was more good news for the German team. Andreas Mikkelsen and Mikko Markkulatook fourth place, while leaders of the championship, Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia, came in tenth after, retiring from the event in day one with technical problems. The Rally Greece is considered the ultimate test in the WRC, because of its severely dusty, coarse gravelled and rocky stages. With such difficult conditions, the drivers’ starting positions on the three days of rallying played a crucial role in determining their chances.

The first day started well. Ogier and Ingrassia set the fastest time in qualifying, earning them the chance to choose their starting position for the first day of stages. Mikkelsen and Markkula were sixth, while Latvala and Antilla finished ninth. Ogier opted to start the opening leg in eleventh place, making him the last of the drivers in the WRC category. Latvala was the fourth man out onto the route, right behind Andreas Mikkelsen, who started third. But the day’s good fortune, soon diminished. Fuel pressure problems on Polo R WRC #8 saw Ogier and Ingrassia’s lead slip away. A cable connection on the car had come loose, interrupting the supply of power to the fuel pump, and even though the Volkswagen Motorsport mechanics replaced the wiring loom, a 10-minute penalty was enforced on the French pair.

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In a somewhat surprise announcement, ex-World Rally Championship winner Carlos Sainz will drive a 600bhp Polo R Supercar at the X Games in Barcelona this weekend. To be held at the Olympic Stadium in the Spanish city, Sainz’s car will be prepared by Marklund Motorsport, which also runs Anton Marklund’s car in the European RallycrossRX championship. ‘I tested the car at Montalegre in Portugal after the last race of the European Rallycross Championship. We talked about making changes but I hadn’t decided to race at that stage. Now, I am, and I will test it again to achieve a good set-up,’ Sainz said.

That set-up will be good, too, as the 51 year-old Spaniard played an important part in the development of the official Volkswagen Motorsport Polo R WRC car, which has seen great success in the 2013 FIA World Rally Championship. The X Games features athletes competing in BMX, skateboarding, rallycross and motocross disciplines, to decide who wins the 17 gold medals up for grabs. Broadcast on worldwide TV channels, the X Games Barcelona is the fourth stop on the 2013 X Games global city tour.

UPDATE, 20 May 2013: Unfortunately, due to heavy rain and resulting adverse course conditions, the rallycross competition at X Games Barcelona was cancelled. There is no word on a rescheduled date for the races.

Over the weekend of 4-5 May, Mark Silverwood took the spoils at round four of the Engen Volkswagen Cup at Zwartkops Raceway, Pretoria. Recent work carried out to the circuit’s surface meant that handling characteristics of the Polo Vivo race cars were altered, but it didn’t stop Silverwood taking Bryan Morgan’s pole position from him in the first corner of race one. Morgan fought back however, but had to succumb to Silverwood’s repeated attacks on his leading position. Dewald Brummer claimed third place, after a tense championship battle with Kosie Weyers. The first part of race two was a re-run of race one, with Silverwood scalping Morgan, but Weyers also pushed past the leader, sending Morgan down to third.

The 2013 Engen Volkswagen Cup series is similar to the other racing Volkswagen Polo Cup single-series championships run in China, Europe and India. Just as in those official Volkswagen series, the South African one-make format highlights new driving talent. In the Engen series, as many as 35 drivers regularly race in technically identical, 2.0-litre 234bhp Volkswagen Polo Vivo racing cars. For 2013, the Engen Volkswagen Cup cars are powered by the new Engen Primax fuel. The field will head to the Grand Prix Circuit, East London for round five of the 2013 championship on 15 June.

RACE RESULTS
Race 1
1 Mark Silverwood (32: OKI Printing Solutions)
2 Bryan Morgan (41: Great Accounts/Great Soft)
3 Dewald Brummer (22: UMP/Horne Hydraulics/MAD Racing)

Race 2
1 Mark Silverwood (32: OKI Printing Solutions)
2 Kosie Weyers (5: Engen Primax)
3 Bryan Morgan (41: Great Accounts/Great Soft)


Overall standings
1 Mark Silverwood (32: OKI Printing Solutions)
2 Bryan Morgan (41: Great Accounts/Great Soft)
3 Kosie Weyers (5: Engen Primax)

Masters
1 Ettiene du Toit (M4: Zenith Product Design)
2 Juan Gerber (M8: Carfind.co.za)
3 Eddie Rodrigues (M7: SEW Eurodrive)

Volkswagen Motorsport has been in celebratory mood once more, after another successful round of the 2013 FIA World Rally Championship. Rally Argentina saw the Hanover-based outfit take two podium places, extending its lead in the drivers’ championship, and retaining its top spot in the manufacturers’ standings. Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia took second place behind record-breaking world champion and Citroën driver Sébastien Loeb, claiming their fifth podium place in this season’s WRC after their fifth outing with the Polo R WRC. After starting the final day in Argentina in fourth position, Jari-Matti Latvala/and co-driver Miikka Anttila fought their way into third place and their second podium finish of 2013.

With their double victory in the final Power Stage, the two Volkswagen drivers also secured five extra points in the drivers’ competition. One third into the season, Ogier and Ingrassia are now 54 points clear at the top of the drivers’ leader board, while Volkswagen is now 14 points ahead of Citroën in the manufacturers’ championship. Andreas Mikkelsen and Mikko Markkula in the third Polo R WRC finished Rally Argentina in eighth place under Rally 2 regulations, achieving impressive top times in their second event with the car.

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