PoloDriver

As well as the Volkswagen Sasolracing team’s fleet of Polo S2000s, the third round of the 2013 South African National Rally Championship (SANRC) saw the smaller Manitou Group Polo R2 heading to Gauteng for the Toyota Gauteng Dealer Rally. Paul Franken and Henry Kohne found their feet in the Polo R2, and with their notes and systems in the car starting to fall into place, it gave them confidence to start pushing early.

With up to 15 entries in the class, the pair found them self laying fourth in class at the end of day one, with five stages behind them which would be repeated on day two. After 91km of intense rallying, they were in a comfortable position, 22 seconds behind third place. In the first stage of day two, the pair got into rhythm quickly, and with the set-up of the car being better than on day one, they were looking forward to the second leg of the rally. Unfortunately, the team’s season of bad luck continued striking halfway into stage six, leaving Franken and Kohne with a broken sideshaft, forcing the Manitou Polo to retire.

‘I have been finding it difficult to get to grips with the Polo R2 early in the season but I have been gaining some valuable seat time in the car and starting to feel at home behind the wheel of the car. Being on pace at the Toyota Gauteng Dealer Rally gives us some much-needed confidence and we are looking forward to the rest of the season,’ said Paul Franken. The team will continue to work hard between events and is preparing for the next round of the SANRC, the Volkswagen Rally on the 19-20 July in the Eastern Cape. The Franken/Kohne Polo R2 is supported by Manitou Group, Volkswagen Racing, and Sasol.

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.

Now in its fourth year in production, the fifth-generation remains popular with new car buyers in the UK, staying in the top 10 best-selling cars chart during April. An ever-consistent seventh place is its reward for last month’s sales of 3630 units, while so far this year, 15,383 units of the small Volkswagen have found homes in the UK. While that’s still short of the 42,392 Ford Fiestas sold, the evergreen Polo is still the second best-selling Volkswagen in the UK, and it’s also ahead of newer competition such as the Peugeot 208.

UK new car registrations rose 14.8 per cent in April to 163,357 units, the best April performance since 2008. There has been an increased demand for small cars among private buyers, while the supermini segment remains the largest market segment. Registrations over the first four months of 2013 increased 8.9 per cent to 768,555 units. Petrol-fuelled cars have seen their market share climb. The UK’s top 10 best-selling cars during April 2013 and the year-to-date (sales figure and position in brackets) are as follows:

1 Ford Fiesta: 8083 (42,392, 1st)

2 Vauxhall Corsa: 6084 (30,645, 3rd)

3 Ford Focus: 5944 (31,205, 2nd)

4 Volkswagen Golf: 5283 (21,009, 5th)

5 Vauxhall Astra: 4244 (21,446, 4th)

6 Nissan Qashqai: 3761 (18,362, 6th)

7 Volkswagen Polo: 3630 (15,383, 7th)

8 Fiat 500: 3037 (12,654, 10th)

9 Peugeot 208: 2975 (14,083, 8th)

10 Audi A3: 2935


(The 2013 top 10 best-selling car absent from last month’s sales figures is the Nissan Juke in 10th place with 12,788 units sold.)