Volkswagen enthusiasts knew that 2013 would bring Polo R WRC action, but it would appear to be a bumper year for Polos in motorsport. In addition to the 315bhp four-wheel drive machines tearing up the world’s rally stages, there are also the established Engen Volkswagen Cup and Volkswagen Polo R-Cup India circuit championships, and the squad of Polo S2000 cars which are competing in the South African National Rally Championship. In addition, Group N Polo 1600s are also rallying through India and South Africa, adding to the car’s motorsport pedigree. And this weekend – at the birthplace of rallycross, Lydden Hill, Kent – sees the UK debut of the most fearsome motorsport machine of the lot – Anton Marklund’s 550+bhp rallycross Polo T16.
Built to compete in the 2013 FIA European Rallycross Championship, the 20 year-old’s four-wheel drive Polo will compete in the Supercar category, the Swede moving up from the Touringcar class, which he won last season – his first full European championship. The number 92 car has been tested throughout the winter in Marklund’s native Sweden, and took runs at various end-of-season special events last year. ‘Testing on ice has let me learn a lot about driving a four-wheel drive car and made it possible for me to learn fast,’ Marklund commented.
Volkswagen Motorsport has announced that the Polo R WRCs of Sébastien Ogier and Andreas Mikkelsen will line up at the Fafe Rally Sprint on 6 April, ahead of Rally Portugal. An appetiser of the full Portugese WRC event which starts five days later, the 2013 sprint marks Volkswagen Motorsport’s debut at the run, which sees spectator numbers of 100,000 or more. The Fafe Rally Sprint marks Mikkelsen’s (along with co-driver Mikko Markkula’s) competitive debut in the Polo R WRC – the third car will be added to the squad from Rally Portugal for the rest of the season.
The 6.34km section of the ‘Lameirinha’ stage no longer officially forms part of the Rally Portugal, but will herald the start of the rally week. ‘We are really looking forward to lining up in Fafe for the first time,’ said Volkswagen Motorsport Director Jost Capito. ‘Sébastien and Julien will be in close contact with thousands of Portuguese fans at the “Rally Sprint”, and will be out to put on a good show for them. The event also offers Andreas and Mikko the opportunity to test the Polo R WRC under competitive conditions for the first time, and to familiarise themselves with the atmosphere before the pair make their WRC debut in the Polo R WRC the following week.’
The crowds in Fafe are in for a spectacular show. The WRC teams must battle their way through two qualifying rounds on the way to the final. The fastest time in the final wins the Fafe Rally Sprint. Another extremely popular feature with the fans is the competition to see who can remain airborne for the longest over one of the most challenging jumps in rallying. The record, which was set by Armin Schwarz in a Škoda Octavia WRC in 2000, currently stands at 73.5 metres.
Though a winning sight on the first three rallies of the year, forget the fearsome Polo R WRC for a moment. Last week we heard news of a second Group N Polo 6R rally car being prepared, following the sighting of one in South Africa on the Total Rally a couple of weeks ago. This new car was in India, and as it turns out, forms one of a pair run by Team Slideways Industries, an outfit based in Pune, not far from the Volkswagen factory which makes the Polo (and its Vento sister) for the local market. We’ll be following the team’s progress throughout 2013, and spoke to Aniruddha Rangnekar who looks after press and PR to find out more.
Set to debut the Group N Polo 1.6 at the AVT Premium South India Rally this weekend in Chennai, the Slideways Industries team will contest the six-round 2013 Indian National Rally Championship (INRC), which runs until December. The Polo is the first all-new car to debut in the INRC in over six years and the first hatchback in the rally championship in over a decade. Team Slideways Industries, backed by Pune-based Pinnacle Group, will enter two Polos in the South India Rally driven by Sirish Chandran (with co-driver Nikhil Pai) in the 1600cc class and Rohan Pawar (with co-driver Nitin Jacob) in the Junior INRC class.
Reigning 2013 Engen Volkswagen Cup leader Kosie Weyers once again delivered a winning drive at the second round of the one-make championship on Saturday. Weyers took victory in both races at Killarney in Cape Town, boosting his championship lead by 27 points. Race one saw Weyers take the lead from Shaun La Reservée, who then fought back valiantly until the finish of the eight-lap race. It was almost a photo finish, with Weyers’ Engen Primax-sponsored car crossing the line 0.095 seconds ahead of La Reserveé’s Alpine Motors/Compendium Insurance-liveried racer. Third place was taken by Tasmin Pepper, claiming her first podium result of the season.
Weyers dashed for the lead again in race two, from a third place start. Mathew Hodges kept up the pace behind him, but Weyers steadfastly refused to budge. Pepper wasn’t quite so lucky, as an incident with Simon Moss forced her into the path of three more drivers, eliminating her, Juan Gerber and Ryan Rhode. Fourth-placed Trevor Bland then moved into third, which is where he finished, ahead of pole-sitter La Reservée and Mark Silverwood, who started the race down the grid in ninth place.
Guest racer Denis Droppa, who competed in the first two seasons of the Engen Volkswagen Cup championship in 1997 and 1998, found that the series is just as tough today as it was back then. While the younger and more experienced racers outpaced him, Droppa made good progress during the weekend improving his lap times by three seconds and within 2.3 seconds of the race winner. Droppa competed as a Masters racer, the category for Engen Volkswagen Cup competitors over the age of 27. In this category it was Eddie Rodrigues who put in the best performance of the day, winning both race one and race two – with his second race result in eighth place overall.
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 Port Elizabeth for round three of the 2013 series at Aldo Scribante Raceway on 6 April.
A sign of things to come? Fresh from their victory at Rally Sweden in February, Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia took victory at the Rally Mexico yesterday, with a lead of three minutes and 28 seconds over Finnish pairing Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen. The Volkswagen Polo R WRC drivers scored a total of 16 stage wins to win the third round of the 2013 FIA World Rally Championship, with Ogier driving flat out to beat the chasing Citroën DS3 pairing. The Frenchman dominated the event from start to finish, and along with Ingrassia, won all but seven of the 23 special stages with his consistent speed.
Polo R WRC number 7 car driven by Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila didn’t fare so well, retiring from the event after hitting a rock just metres into the first special stage of day two. However, under Rally 2 regulations, the Finns were able to re-enter the event for Saturday and Sunday’s action. Finishing in the top three on six of the ten special stages, Latvala also managed to clock the third fastest time on the Power Stage, earning himself a bonus point towards the WRC rankings in the process.
It wasn’t always easy. With temperatures reaching around 30 degrees Celsius, the 395km Rally Mexico is littered with descents from altitudes as high as 2671 metres above sea level, challenging both the car and its driver. Brake fluid almost heated to boiling point, but the Polo R WRC put in a flawless performance, demonstrating its durability through the dust-lined and gravel-surfaced 23 stages. Volkswagen Motorsport states that Ogier and Ingrassia’s victory s also one for its engineers who prepared the cars especially and meticulously for the demanding event.
Surrounded in controversy, Ogier almost had an altercation too – a closed gate at the 32nd kilometre of the 18th stage, ‘Otates 2’, meant that he had to implement an emergency stop from full rally speed. Ingrassia then had to leap out of the car and open the gate before the two Frenchmen could continue on their way. Despite losing 37 seconds, Ogier’s time was still good enough to finish sixth fastest on the stage.
Ogier was euphoric with his win: ‘What a fantastic feeling. The Polo R WRC was perfect for every single minute of the Rally Mexico. I can only thank my team for that. This victory at our debut on gravel is very special and will always have a special place in my heart. We take every win as it comes. This morning I took an extremely cautious approach on the first special stage and steered around every stone. However, from midway through I put my foot down again. We obviously have a big lead now in the World Rally Championship, but there are still another ten rallies to come.’
Although his retirement prohibited him from coming in the top five, Latvala gained valuable Polo R WRC experience. ‘No sooner had the rally started than things took a turn for the worse for us. We had to give up after a matter of metres on Friday, due to suspension damage we received when we hit a stone. After that, we tried a few things with the car and I worked on my driving style. By the end of the rally, I felt more comfortable than ever in the Polo. I now have a better understanding of the handling characteristics. That gives me a lot of motivation ahead of Portugal. Winning a point on the Power Stage was a nice way to finish,‘ he said.
Jost Capito, Volkswagen Motorsport Director was pleased with the Polo R WRC’s gravel debut: ‘Never in our wildest dreams did we expect this kind of success at our very first gravel rally with the Polo R WRC. We prepared meticulously for the World Rally Championship, and left nothing to chance in the run up to the Rally Mexico. As such, the win in Mexico is a success for the entire team; mot only on-site, but also at home in Hannover and Wolfsburg. It is impossible to overrate Sébastien Ogier’s performance: the Ogier factor was what made the difference here. It allowed us to challenge for the win right from the word go. Jari-Matti Latvala’s performance was no less impressive. He was really unlucky right at the start of the rally, but fought back magnificently. The suspension damage he suffered has shown us that we can still improve the Polo R WRC.’
The fourth round of the 2013 FIA World Rally Championship will take place in Portugal from 11th to 14th April. Sébastien Ogier and Jari-Matti Latvala will be joined in the Volkswagen Motorsport team by Andreas Mikkelsen, who will also drive a Polo R WRC.
2013 FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP, RALLY MEXICO: FINAL RESULTS
1 Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (F/F), Volkswagen: 4h 30m 27s
2 Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen (FIN/FIN), Citroën + 3m 28.9s
3 Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul (B/B), Ford + 4m 23.8s
4 Dani Sordo/Carlos del Barrio (E/E), Citroën + 6m 06.7s
5 Nasser Al-Attiyah/Giovanni Bernacchini (Q/I), Ford + 8m 34.6s
2013 FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP, DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS
1 Sébastien Ogier: 74
2 Sébastien Loeb: 43
3 Mikko Hirvonen: 30
4 Dani Sordo: 27
5 Mads Østberg: 26
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