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The third race weekend of the Volkswagen Polo R Cup India 2011 at Chennai on 20-21 August 2011 saw two different drivers emerge victorious. In the first round, Vishnu Prasad took the chequered flag, with Ajay Kini coming in second, while Rahil Noorani finished third. Avdumber Hede meanwhile was unbeatable in the second race. The 24 year-old relegated Prateek Dalal and Oshan Kothadiya to positions two and three on the podium. Championship leader Prasad retired after a collision. The next rounds of the Volkswagen Polo R Cup India 2011 are once again at the 3.7km Irungattukottai Race Track, Chennai from 16-18 September. The series is run by Volkswagen India Motorsport in conjunction with JK Tyres. The field of 20 young racers drive identical and centrally-prepared 129bhp TDI Polo R Cup cars.

Lee Thompson was the standout driver at the sixth race meeting of the Engen Volkswagen Cup (also known as the Volkswagen Polo Cup South Africa) last weekend, scoring first place in race one and second position in race two at the South African BMSC circuit, East London. Winner of race two was Kosie Weyers, while championship leader Devin Robertson took third place in race one, and finished one place lower in the second.

The 2011 Engen Volkswagen Cup series is similar to the other racing VW Polo Cup single-series championships run in both Europe and India. Just as in those series, the one-make format particularly highlights a wealth of new young driving talent. In the Engen championship, as many as thirty drivers regularly take to the track in technically-identical, 2.0-litre, 234bhp Volkswagen Polo Vivo racing cars. The next two rounds of the 2011 Engen Volkswagen Cup are scheduled for 1 October at the Killarney circuit, Cape Town.

Highly changeable weather on the two-day Garden Route Rally on 26-27 August threw many obstacles to the competitors, but the BP Volkswagen team survived the punishing event, overcoming many obstacles on the way. Damp weather on Friday gave way to sunny conditions on Saturday, and the nine-stage event saw the Enzo Kuun/Guy Hodgson car come home in fourth place, the highest-position Polo Vivo S2000. Giniel de Villiers and Ralph Pitchford finished one place behind Kuun/Hodgson, the defending series champions.

Other cars in the BP Volkswagen livery didn’t fare as well. Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries landed heavily after a yump, damaging their radiator in stage three. While the damage meant they could carry on, they had to retire at the end of the round. A tree stump on stage nine was the undoing of Jan Habig and Robert Paisley, damaging their rear suspension fatally. The S1600 class pairing of Gugu Zulu and Carl Peskin were knocked out in stage eight when a cracked exhaust manifold lead to a burning engine mount. S1400 class competitors Megan Verlaque and Hilton Auffray had better luck, though, winning their class with their Polo Vivo and getting their new rallying partnership off to a flying start. The next round of the 2011 South African National Rally Championship is the Western Cape Rally on 22-23 September.

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The Polo R WRC testing programme continues. Volkswagen Motorsport finished the 2011 ADAC Rallye Deutschland on 18-21 August with two podium places. Once again using two 270bhp Škoda Fabia S2000s, Hans Weijs Jr (NL) and Bjoern Degandt (B) came second in the Super 2000 class, while German duo Christian Riedemann and Michael Wenzel finished third in class, claiming 15th place overall. ‘Our test run at the ADAC Rallye Deutschland went without the slightest problems and again provided us with many new findings. After three victories at the Dakar Rally we’ve got to re-organise ourselves in some areas and gather as much experience as possible. Our team had done a good job of preparing itself and accomplished the mission without making any mistakes,’ said Volkswagen Motorsport Director Kris Nissen. The full Volkswagen Motorsport press release and more pictures follow.

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Current championship winner Devin Robertson extended his 37-point lead at the fifth round of the 2011 Engen Volkswagen Cup last weekend, celebrating a double victory at the Aldo Scribante Race Circuit in Port Elizabeth. The fifth round of the 2011 series (also known as the Volkswagen Polo Cup South Africa) saw Robertson beat Dewald Brummer and Lee Thompson to the top step of the podium in the first race, while the South African was ahead of second-placed Thompson and third-placed Kosie Weyers.

The 2011 Engen Volkswagen Cup series is similar to the other racing VW Polo Cup single-series championships run in both Europe and India. Just as in those series, the one-make format particularly highlights a wealth of new young driving talent. In the Engen championship, as many as thirty drivers regularly take to the track in technically-identical, 2.0-litre, 234bhp Volkswagen Polo Vivo racing cars. The next two rounds of the 2011 Engen Volkswagen Cup are scheduled for 3 September at the BMSC circuit, East London.

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