PoloDriver

Rahil Noorani won his first Volkswagen Polo R Cup 2011 race in round 2 of the championship, held over 17-18 July at Coimbatore. The 21 year-old rookie driver beat championship leader Vishnu Prasad into third place (from a ninth-place start), ahead of Ajay Kini from Bangalore. Noorani had a great start and led into the first corner ahead of Kini and Avdumbder Hede. Oshan Kothadiya from Pune fought Kini for a podium place, ultimately losing out to Prasad. Commenting on his first victory, winner Rahil Noorani said: ‘It feels great to win. I qualified on pole and the only thing on my mind was to lead into the first corner and take it from there. I stayed focussed, which helped me to win the race.’

Prithviraj Siddappa, Head of Volkswagen Motorsport India, was pleased with the result: ‘Another great race to start off round 2. It was an action-packed race and it was good to see different winners on the podium. It is great to see drivers giving more attention in analysing their data to see where they can improve. This shows the drivers are enthusiastic and determined to do well in this championship. The Polo Race cars are performing greatly, and we are very happy with the performance and efficiency of their engines.’ The 2011 Volkswagen Polo Cup India 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 racing cars.

Race 2 saw many crashes, collisions and high-speed spins which saw the lead change hands a number of times. A reverse grid start saw race 1 winner Noorani roll from eighth position, with Prasad ahead in sixth. Mihir Dharkar from Mumbai took pole position, although an unfortunate spin dashed his hopes of holding onto the lead until the end of the race. The lead was passed to Kothadia, closely tailed by Prasad. A safety car outing saw Prasad close in on the leaders and on the tenth lap, he passed Kothadia to take pole and win the race. Kothadia then forced Noorani into a spin with three laps to go, but both drivers ended up on podium in second and third places respectively. Round 3 of the Volkswagen Polo R Cup 2011 will take place on 19-21 August at the Irungattukottai Race Track in Chennai.

[Image: Rahul Basu/zigwheels.com]

Wondering which Volkswagen might suit your fleet needs? Wonder no more, as Volkswagen Fleet Services has launched two new CO2 emissions price lists, making it simple and quick to find a car that suits a fleet manager’s or driver’s needs. First launched in 2009, the fleet price guide details all the car’s in the Vokswagen range with a CO2 output of 160g/km or less. Including information on P11D values, Benefit in Kind tax implications and individual CO2 emissions listings, it is joined by a booklet containing all the vehicles in the Volkswagen range with CO2 emissions under 120g/km.

Volkswagen Fleet Services’ Communications Manager, Tracey Rossetti, commented: ‘We had a very positive response to the first emissions guide we published in 2009 and so have decided to develop it further and introduce the new version with sub-120 g/km vehicles. Although all our fleet price lists contain this information, we believe this makes people’s lives and vehicle selections easier – as all the data is contained in one easy to use guide – and that’s important to both busy fleet managers and drivers.’

The sub-160 g/km booklet contains 16 model ranges, from the Fox city car to the Sharan people carrier, and includes the recently introduced Polo Match and new Touran, while the sub-120 g/km price list offers a choice of nine model ranges including the highly acclaimed new Golf Cabriolet and the Golf BlueMotion which emits just 99g/km of carbon dioxide and is exempt from the London Congestion Charge. To download electronic versions of the price guides, go to www.volkswagen.co.uk/fleet. Printed copies are available by calling the Volkswagen Fleet Business Centre on 0800 38 989 38.

The latest Polo BlueMotion will be one of the stars of Volkswagen’s BlueMotion stand at EcoVelocity 2011, the low-carbon motor show being held at Battersea Power Station from 8-11 September. Visitors to the Volkswagen stand will be encouraged to ‘Think Blue’, as they pour over the latest BlueMotion vehicles and technologies, both inside and out on the track. Among the vehicles available to drive the near-mile long circuit will be the 3.0-litre V6/34.3kW electric motor-powered Touareg Hybrid, as well as the 2.0 TDI 138bhp Scirocco BlueMotion Technology.

The 1.2-litre TDI Polo BlueMotion with 74bhp will be on the Volkswagen stand, along with its frugal yet fun petrol brother, the 1.2-litre SEL TSI with 104bhp. In addition, the popular 99g/km, 74.3mpg, Congestion Charge-beating Golf BlueMotion will also be on show. Visitors will also be able to engage with BlueMotion Technologies on the Volkswagen stand, which features an interactive touchscreen experience and the ‘rollercoaster,’ which takes visitors on a journey of discovery into the innovations which reduce fuel consumption and emissions.

Giles Brown, EcoVelocity Director, said, ‘We’re delighted to have Volkswagen at EcoVelocity as it is one of the game-changing brands that really started the movement towards no-compromise ultra-low carbon motoring. Its BlueMotion range set the industry benchmark and we look forward to getting a further insight into their ground-breaking technology at EcoVelocity in September.’ For more information on BlueMotion Technologies go to www.volkswagen.co.uk/bluemotion, and visit www.ecovelocity.co.uk to book tickets or for further details on EcoVelocity.

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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