PoloDriver

Outstripping the grids of other classes, the second race weekend of the 2012 Engen Volkswagen Cup took place at Killarney on 31 March – 1 April. In total, 33 racing Polo Vivos took to the track ensuring lots of race action. In a change to the usual two races, Killarney saw three, with the first pair being sprint races of six laps, while the third 12-lap event was run later in the day. The top six drivers in qualifying drew grid positions for race one, while the second race grid was made up from the top six finishers starting in reverse order. The third race grid was determined by the racers’ second-fastest lap time in qualifying sessions.

In the first race, defending champion Devin Robertson created a gap between him and the rest of the field, all the time keeping Kosie Weyers at bay. Weyers had made his way past fastest qualifier Matthew Hodges, and was lucky to fend off Kelvin van der Linde. Robertson crossed the line first, followed by Weyers and van der Linde, and it was all to drive for, as the second race grid was a reverse of the first. Robertson started sixth, Weyers fifth, and van der Linde fourth.

Trevor Bland was in pole for the start of race two – his first ever – and made a good start, but soon lost it, as van der Linde, Kyle Barnes, Weyers, and then Robertson made their way past. Van der Linde took the flag, with Barnes seconds and Weyers third. Race thee meanwhile saw local racer Weyers take victory, with Robertson taking the R2000 prize for the fastest lap and the second spot on the podium, followed by van der Linde. Bland finished fourth overall after the races had been run, and was named ‘Driver of the Day’.

Guest racer Sudhir Matai of Car magazine had a tough day. A broken gear linkage eliminated him from the second race, while race three saw him shunted off the track, and he hit the wall going backwards. He got his Polo Vivo racer back on the track, but when the front left tyre deflated on the main straight, he parked up and waited for the race to finish. The Engen Volkswagen Cup racers will take to the track for round three of the national championship at Aldo Scribante Raceway in Port Elizabeth on Saturday 28 April.

The 2012 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 officially-sanctioned Volkswagen-moderated series, the South African one-make format highlights new driving talent. In the Engen championship, as many as thirty drivers regularly take to the tracks in technically-identical, 2.0-litre, 234bhp Volkswagen Polo Vivo racers.

RACE RESULTS
Race 1
1 Devin Robertson (1: Sparco/Big Boss Auto)
2 Kosie Weyers (2: Engen Xtreme)
3 Kelvin van der Linde (31: Ferodo Racing)

Race 2
1 Kelvin van der Linde (31: Ferodo Racing)
2 Kyle Barnes (4: Gold Liberations)
3 Kosie Weyers (2: Engen Xtreme)

Race 3
1 Kosie Weyers (2: Engen Xtreme)
2 Devin Robertson (1: Sparco/Big Boss Auto)
3 Kelvin van der Linde (31: Ferodo Racing)

Overall standings
1 Kelvin van der Linde (31: Ferodo Racing)
2 Kosie Weyers (2: Engen Xtreme)
3 Devin Robertson (1: Sparco/Big Boss Auto)

Masters Championship overall standings
1 Dean Ball (M5: Champion Motors)
2 Eddie Rodrigues (M7: SEW Eurodrive)
3 Justin Taylor (M3: VW Techniques)

Fresh from the last round in Mexico, Volkswagen Motorsport driver Sébastien Ogier stormed to class victory in the latest round of the World Rally Championship (WRC), Rally Portugal. Taking the S2000 class first place with co-driver Julien Ingrassia, Ogier scored four championship points over 368km of special stages, despite turbulent weather conditions. In the overall standings, the French duo came eighth. The Frenchmen are staying in Portugal this week, testing the Polo R WRC with rally legend Carlos Sainz.

After the ceremonial start on Thursday, Ogier lost time on the night stages due to his Škoda Fabia S2000 developing clutch problems. Torrential rain on Friday brought a blocked stage, while stages 8 to 10 were cancelled due to fog, deep mud and flooding. Overall winner of Rally Portugal was Finn Mikko Hirvonen.

‘We lost a lot of time behind Craig Breen, who stopped at the end of a water passage. There were spectators on track to help him and as we didn’t want to jeopardise anyone we patiently waited. Unfortunately, we weren’t credited for this time,’ Ogier commented afterwards. ‘Considering the extreme conditions, I’m happy to have reached the finish. Without the time loss we would have clinched sixth place, which would have marked the best result of an S2000 car in WRC history,’ Ogier continued.

‘In view of the chaotic weather conditions and the large field with 19 WRC cars, eighth place is an optimum result. Sébastien and Julien did a perfect job. It was also good to see how calm and professional the team was in performing its work in such difficult conditions,’ said Volkswagen Motorsport Director Kris Nissen.

It wasn’t such good news for the Volkswagen junior driver Kevin Abbring and his co-driver Fréderic Miclotte. After an accident in qualifying on Wednesday, the roll cage in Abbring’s Škoda Fabia S2000 was so damaged the pair were unable to continue, by rule of the FIA. Next, Volkswagen Motorsport junior driver Andreas Mikkelsen will run with co-driver Ola Fløene on Rally Argentina from 27-29 April.

With testing over, Volkswagen Motorsport South Africa contested the first round of the 2012 South African National Rally Championship in KwaZulu-Natal last weekend. The first outing of the newly-developed BP Volkswagen Polo S2000, the cars posted both competitive stage times and stage wins on the 200km, 16-stage event. Setting the pace on the first stages, Enzo Kuun and Guy Hodgson finished at the front of the field, with fellow Polo pairing Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries following behind. The Polo S2000 duo led their opponents home by more than a second, and continued in the latter stages, where Kuun and Hodgson claimed stage victories and top 3 positions.

Electrical system problems forced Fekken and Arries into retirement, while BP Volkswagen newcomers Hans Weijs Jnr and Björn Degandt continued the fight with Kuun and Hodsgon. ‘The new Polo S2000 has great potential,’ says Fekken. ‘We were in front at one stage before our problems surfaced so the potential is obvious. I can feel the new Polo S2000 is a stronger car – it pulls better and feels better. The potential is awesome.’ Kuun and Hodgson showed their experience, rallying hard. Weijs and Degandt didn’t take long to find a rhythm and the pair soon found themselves competing amongst the top five on several occasions, rising to claim a third place finish in stage 12. Kuun and Hodgson claimed fifth overall, while Weijs and Degandt came home in sixth place.

The first rally of 2012 saw a welcome return to form for Gugu Zulu and Carl Peskin. Competing in the S2000 Challenge category, they make use of a BP Volkswagen Polo Vivo S2000. Zulu and Peskin rallied to second place in the new S2000 category, marking a strong start to their 2012 season. The BP Volkswagen Polo Vivo S1600 of Megan Verlaque and Hilton Auffray also made good headway in the start of their 2012 season campaign, crossing the finish in stage 16 to claim fourth place in the S1600 class. The next round of the South African national championship will be the Sasol Rally in the Nelspruit area on 20-21 April.

‘We are satisfied with the first rally performance,’ says Mike Rowe head of Volkswagen Motorsport in South Africa. ‘There is a long season ahead with many stages to go, though. We have found some things that need improvement and will be stronger in round two. The development cycle of the new BP Volkswagen Polo S2000 is on track and it won’t be long before we have the pace and finishing capability we are aiming for. The new Polo S2000 is very young, and a great deal of the work that lies ahead involves understanding the car’s performance and how it responds to the adjustments we make,’ said Rowe.

The first round of the South African 2012 National Rally Championship kicks off the country’s rallying season this weekend (23-24 March) and the BP Volkswagen team will pull out all the stops to get ahead early. With the brand new Polo S2000 car unveiled a few weeks ago, the squad will be hoping that the stages in KwaZulu-Natal will be kind to them. Volkswagen Motorsport has six consecutive national rally championship titles to its name with the previous generation Volkswagen Polo S2000 after all.

The latest version of the super-supermini has been crafted for the single purpose of winning rallies, and is packed with the latest rallying technology. A 2.0-litre, four-cylinder engine producing 270bhp/200kW driving all four wheels powers the new-for-2012 Polo S2000, pumping 184lb ft/250Nm of torque at 7200rpm, and making use of a Sadev 4/45 six-speed sequential ‘Powershift’-equipped gearbox. As well as a new car, the BP Volkswagen team have two new drivers. Hans Weijs Jnr and Bjorn Degandt are two international competitors who have experience in IRC and WRC championships.

Seasoned campaigners Lnzo Kuun and Guy Hodgson are carrying on as before, and have won the Total Rally twice before – the last time in 2006 – and are eager to claim the event for the new car. Kuun and Hodgson are also two-time winners of the national championship title, and will definitely be in the hunt for a third. Teammates Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries are in a similar position. They know the territory, they are seasoned campaigners, they have a national rally title under their belts, and they will be in full flight searching for another title.

Meanwhile, Gugu Zulu and Carl Peskin have a huge challenge ahead of them in KwaZulu-Natal. They will contest the new S2000 Challenge category of national rallying – and their efforts will be backed up by the BP Volkswagen Polo Vivo S2000. The challenge that lies ahead this season is going to test them, but their rally car that has a pedigree which stretches back to include six national rally titles to help them to the end. Finally, Megan Verlaque and Hilton Auffray tackle the S1600 category with their two-wheel drive BP Volkswagen Polo Vivo in search of national rally championship honours – and the start of their first full season as a team.

Rally Mexico, the third round of the 2012 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC), saw Volkswagen Motorsport come home eighth overall, gaining valuable experience for its Polo R WRC programme. Last weekend, the all-French pairing of Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia finished ahead of three more powerful WRC cars, scoring their first four championship points. The Dutch/Belgian duo of Kevin Abbring and Frédéric Miclotte weren’t quite so fortunate, retiring in the 16th special stage due to technical problems.

‘The extremely stony gravel tracks at an altitude of over 2000m make the Mexico Rally one of the most demanding rallies for “man and material”,’ said Volkswagen Motorsport Director Kris Nissen. ‘We’ve gathered conclusive measurements for the development of the Polo R WRC, and Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia did a very good job. It’s a shame that Kevin Abbring and Frédéric Miclotte suffered misfortune as they’d been running at a nice, fast past up to that point. The enthusiasm of the Mexican rally fans is fantastic. And it’s a fantastic feeling to note that the Volkswagen brand has many loyal fans in Mexico.’

Rally Mexico delivered spectacular rallying on 22 special stages and 380 timed kilometres around the city of Leon. Starting in the front-runners, Ogier struggled with the difficult conditions. ‘When you’re always among the first drivers to go out, there’s still a particularly large amount of gravel on the track,’ he said. ‘In addition, the power difference compared with turbo engines is even greater here at extremely high altitudes. On the whole, though, I’m pleased because I can give the Volkswagen Motorsport team its first championship points. And in 2013 we’ll be even further at the front with the new Polo R WRC.’