PoloDriver

In readiness for its full-scale WRC assault in 2013, Volkswagen’s development of the Polo R WRC continues apace. News comes this week that the company has selected both German driver Christian Riedemann and Hans Weijs from the Netherlands to contest the ADAC Rallye Deutschland from 18-21 August 2011 in a pair of 270bhp Škoda Fabia WRC Super 2000s. Using the Fabia S2000s to gain development information for the Polo R WRC, Volkswagen has also entered two vehicles of the same pedigree in the Neste Oil Rally Finland, which takes place this weekend (28-30 July). As with any contested WRC rounds in which Volkswagen Motorsport is using the Fabia S2000s, the ADAC Rallye Deutschland drivers will have the chance to qualify for future runs in the four-wheel drive Polo R WRC, as part of VW’s talent assessment programme. Find the full Volkswagen Motorsport press release over in our dedicated Polo R WRC section of the website.

Traditionally held on the first weekend in July, the British Volkswagen Festival (BVF) is one of the oldest fixtures in the VW show season calendar. Staged at the Three Counties Showground in the Malvern Hills, we have fond memories of driving our Manila Green 1978 Mk 1 Polo N to the event and back in one day back in 1992. One of the longest drives we’d undertaken at that time – from Lowestoft on the east coast to Malvern – it took around six hours to go one way in a 40bhp, 14 year-old car! It didn’t take our special correspondent Alex Grant (follow him on Twitter at @alexgrantuk) that long to get to this year’s event on 2-3 July, though, and just as at GTI International the weekend before, he snapped the best Polos at the show for us. Scroll through the slideshow below to enjoy some of the Polo-shaped BVF 2011 action.

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Two cars from the BP Volkswagen Polo Vivo S2000 team finished in the top four places at last weekend’s (15-16 July) Volkswagen Rally. Highest-placed VW finishers on the Eastern Cape event were 2010 champions Enzo Kuun/Guy Hodgson, who crossed the line in third place after 12 gruelling stages. The Ford Fiesta S2000 of Mark Cronje/Robin Houghton won the event, with the Toyota Auris of Johnny Gemmell/Drew Sturrock took second. The Volkswagen Rally third place was, fittingly, Kuun/Hodgson’s third this season, and still puts them within reach of the 2011 championship, after the mid-way point of the season.

Below Kuun/Hodgson was the Polo Vivo S2000 of Jan Habig/Robert Paislay. Picking up a number of problems on the event – such as a broken exhaust – didn’t stop the duo, even though the mechanical maladies cost them precious time. Meanwhile, the Giniel de Villiers/Ralph Pitchford partnership picked up an eighth place finish on their maiden Volkswagen Rally. Hergen Fekken/Pierre Arries were less lucky. A broken wheel forced them out from the event, just as their Polo was perched for a podium position. They slipped down the leaderboard to 15th.

It was a similar story for Gugu Zulu/Carl Peskin. Their Polo Vivo S1600 retired in the first stage, due to engine damage. On the flipside, Megan Verlaque/Lirene du Plessis celebrated a S1400 class victory and a top 15 finish, even after a puncture cost them time. Other Polo finishers on the 29th Volkswagen Rally which took place around the Longmore Forest, Uitenhage and Port Elizabeth, included the team of Nicholas Ryan/Armand du Toit who placed seventh. Round six of the South African National Rally Championship takes place in the George and Knysna area of the Garden Route in the Western Cape, on 26-27 August.

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It might have taken a while to come on stream, but the smallest VW GTI seems to be impressing folk. Our Twitter feed has been littered with Polo GTI-related tweets over the last few weeks, so here’s a quick round-up of our content that you may have missed if you don’t follow us. And if you don’t, why not?

Polo GTI awarded Motor magazine’s ‘Bang For Your Bucks’ prize: http://goo.gl/fb/4fk54

The Volkswagen South Africa Date Drive results are in. And, a Polo GTI can make you sexier! Check out the infographic to see the evidence: http://twitpic.com/5melk6

Sam Wollaston of The Guardian newspaper in the UK writes about his all too brief encounter with the Polo GTI: http://t.co/kPEZ78a

Two Polo GTIs are also featuring in long-term test experiences. Ian Dickson, cars editor of MSN is running a five-door red model, and Stephen Dobie of evo magazine is running a three-door white car. Find out how they are doing by following @the_roadtester and @evoStephenDobie on Twitter respectively.

Finally, don’t forget you can read about our first drive of the 178bhp performance Polo here: http://ow.ly/5G2vc

For extra PoloDriver.com content, conversations and links that aren’t on the main website, remember to follow us at www.twitter.com/@polodrivercom

Once again, the Volkswagen Polo Vivo was the top-selling passenger car in South Africa last month. In three and five-door hatchback and four-door sedan (saloon) configurations the Vivo claimed the sales chart top spot with a total of 2933 sales, according to the latest figures released by the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (NAAMSA). In a repeat of recent months, June 2011 also saw the the fifth-generation Polo do well, coming in second yet again, with 2097 units. A total of 9,219 new Polos were also exported to global markets from Volkswagen South Africa’s factory at Uitenhage.

The Polo Vivo was launched in March 2010 as an entry-level model for the South African market, replacing the Series 1 Golf-based CitiGolf, and is available as a three or five-door hatchback and four-door booted saloon with 74bhp/84bhp 1.4-litre and 103bhp 1.6-litre petrol engines. Costing from R104,065 for the base-model 1.4 hatchback to R156,220 for the top 1.6 Trendline Sedan, the 2011 Polo Vivo is based on the revised version of the Series 4 Polo (9N3), built from 2005 to 2009. The new fifth-generation Polo is also available as both a three and five-door hatchback in addition to the recently-launched four-door booted Polo Sedan.