PoloDriver

Ameya Walavalkar was crowned the Volkswagen Polo R Cup 2012 champion last weekend, at the series’ final rounds at the Buddh International Circuit in Noida. Fighting a difficult first race, Walavalkar only made the break on the final lap, passing Jeffrey John Kruger. The second race saw Prashanth Tharani Singh take a perfect lights-to-flag victory from his pole position – his first win in the championship. In the final results, Walavalkar won the twelve-race, six-weekend series on 476 points, with A Sandeep Kumar second with 381, and Avdumber Hede third on 355. Volkswagen India Motorsport runs the Volkswagen Polo R Cup India series in conjunction with JK Tyres. The field of 20 young Indian racers drive identical and centrally prepared 1.4-litre TSI-engined, 178bhp Polo R Cup cars.

Ahead of the Rally Monte Carlo, the first round of the 2013 World Rally Championship, Volkswagen Motorsport is to officially unveil the Polo R WRC in all its livery glory this weekend in Monaco. The glitzy ceremonial unveiling will finally peel away the layers of ‘disguise’ of the testing cars and is expected to include ‘many motorsport celebrities’ such as Carlos Sainz, Juha Kankkunen, Markku Alén, Jacky Ickx and Hans-Joachim Stuck. The German outfit will also unveil the driver pairings, which are expected to be number one signings Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia, as well as number two Jari-Matti Latvala and a possible third car ‘junior’ squad headed by Andreas Mikkelsen. We’ll bring you news of the biggest Volkswagen Motorsport launch for years as we get it.

UPDATE: Volkswagen Motorsport has revealed that the Polo R WRC Street road car first seen earlier in the year will be unveiled via a live website feed on Saturday 8 December at 16h30, with the Polo R WRC car following at 19h30.

Following its team performance at Rally Mexico earlier this year, Volkswagen Motorsport has been back in South America testing the Polo R WRC ahead of the full-scale assault on the 2013 World Rally Championship which starts in January at Rallye Monte Carlo. Both Sébastien Ogier and second signing Jari-Matti Latvala have been putting the car through its paces, although a collision with a member of the public’s car when Latvala and the Polo were returning to a service area no doubt cast a cloud over proceedings. The car still looks competitive, though, and we’ve not got long to wait to find out if that’s the case.

[Video source: rutarally.com]

With the 2012 FIA World Rally Championship now at a close, it was a mixed last round for Volkswagen Motorsport’s pair of Škoda Fabia S2000s. Rally Spain (8-11 November) saw a retirement at the end of the first day for Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia, while Intercontinental Rally Challenge champion Andreas Mikkelsen and his co-driver Ola Fløene finished 21st after day one’s stages due to an accident. Following the cermonial start in Barcelona, slippery conditions on gravel and tarmac made life difficult for the drivers, but both Ogier and Mikkelsen admirably closed the gap between their S2000 cars and the more powerful WRC racers.

Volkswagen Motorsport then started to run out of luck. Ogier and Ingrassia’s bonnet lifted, losing them time, and shortly afterwards Mikkelsen and Fløene were struck by Petter Solberg and Thierry Neuville, damaging their suspension. Just after the start of Special Stage 6, Ogier and Ingrassia had to retire due to a drivetrain fault, and although Mikkelsen and Fløene completed the event to Rally 2 regulations, they did gather valuable experience for 2013. Although their rally pairing ended this season, Mikkelsen hopes to be named the third Polo driver for Volkswagen Motorsport’s assault on the 2013 WRC rounds, alongside Ogier and Finn Jari-Matti Latvala.

‘At “Monte” at the beginning of the year we crashed, and now at the season finale we have had technical problems. Other than that, the season went superbly,’ said Ogier, expressing his satisfaction with his first year for Volkswagen. ‘And, honestly speaking, I’m also proud of ten class victories. Whenever we saw the finish we were the quickest S2000 car. But I’m also glad that the year of transition is over. Now I’m incredibly excited about the beginning of the hot phase with the Polo R WRC – and about being able to compete with the top-flight drivers again at Rallye Monte Carlo.’

Volkswagen Junior Andreas Mikkelsen assessed the season in a positive light as well. ‘For me, it’s been a brilliant year. Of course I’m proud to be the first driver in history to have defended my IRC title,’ says the pleased Norwegian. ‘And the year with Volkswagen was enormously important for me, too. Driving in such a large team and getting to know the processes was completely new to me. I’m happy that I received good feedback from the team and very much hope to become the third Volkswagen WRC driver next year.’

Before the start of the ‘Monte’, the Volkswagen Motorsport team will head to Mexico, France and Sweden to push the Polo R WRC still further. The 300bhp, four-wheel drive, 1.6-litre rally car will make its much-aniticipated and long-awaited competitive debut on the Rallye Monte Carlo on 15 January 2013. All eyes will, finally, be watching it.

Finally, good luck has shone on the South African BP Volkswagen rally team. Claiming the top two finishing positions on the Garden Route Rally on 2-4 November, the result marks a siginificant upturn in luck for the Polo S2000-based team, who have endured a disappointing season of mid-table and non-finishes. Hans Weijs Jnr and Björn Degandt rallied home in first place. Enzo Kuun and Guy Hodgson came second.

Weijs Jnr and Degandt claimed three stage wins (out of an available five) on the first day of the event, and carried on their positive streak into Saturday, to finish first on four out of six stages. ‘I wanted the best result I could get after the puncture on Friday,’ says Weijs. ‘We claimed more than three minutes back, the stage times were perfect. We pushed really hard, and we took it to the limit at this event,’ enthused Weijs Jnr.

Kuun and Hodgson pushed hard, too, not that it showed. Gracefully tackling each stage consistently and commandingly, Kuun was especially pleased with his and Hodgson’s event outcome: ‘It has been a difficult year for all of us, and it is nice to bring this result home. The team have been putting in a lot of hard work and this shows that with the depth of talent and skill we have available, we can pull it all together.’

Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries didn’t enjoy such good luck, but the pair started well. They were in the top five on four of the first six stages, but were eliminated from the event on stage seven and could not complete their rally. Meanwhile, the Polo S2000 of Japie van Niekerk and Gerhard Snyman produced a good sixth place, besting some tough rally conditions that saw many of the competitors suffer problems.

Van Niekerk and Snyman finished just ahead of the BP Volkswagen Polo Vivo S2000 of Gugu Zulu and Carl Peskin, who had already claimed 2012’s S2000 Challenge title, but won the same category on the Garden Route Rally, as well as grabbing a seventh place overall finish, bringing their car home more than three minutes ahead of their nearest class rivals. Further down the field, the BP Volkswagen Polo Vivo S1600 of Megan Verlaque and Hilton Auffray snatched fifth place in the S1600 car class.

The 11-stage Garden Route event saw competitors finish the 2012 season in the picturesque Wilderness and Knysna area, and witnessed some stellar rally performances. Drawing the curtain on the 2012 season, it also hints at an exciting and demanding 2013. The final results mark not only the BP Volkswagen team’s strengths in bringing the new BP Volkswagen Polo S2000 up to pace to compete successfully on a national championship level, but also holds the promise for what the coming season holds.