PoloDriver

As the series production car is gaining sales momentum in Europe and South America, Volkswagen Motorsport has confirmed the first customers for the new Polo GTI R5, based on the new sixth-generation Volkswagen Polo, launched last autumn.

Fifteen paying customers have been confirmed for the first batch of the new Polo-based rally car, which means the first run of motorsport machines is now sold out. The 272bhp, four-wheel drive rallying Polos will be delivered in the second half of the year, with both European and South American customers eagerly awaiting delivery.

Baumschlager Rallye & Racing GmbH in Austria will take three cars, headed up by Austrian rally champion Raimund Baumschlager, who won the 2017 Austrian Rally Championship with a Polo R WRC previously campaigned by four-time Polo champion Sébastien Ogier. Belgium also sees three cars head there: two for BMA and one for THX Racing.

A pair of GTI R5s will end up at Printsport Oy in Finland, while another duo will head to Italy for HK Racing. One car will go to Portugal, and previous World Rallycross hi-fliers Kristoffersson Motorsport has also ordered one GTI R5.

A trio of cars will also undergo the longest journey of cars in the initial batch: a Paraguay Volkswagen importer 11,000km away from the Volkswagen Motorsport workshops in Hanover, Miguel Carrizosa/DIESA S.A., will contest national events in the country.

‘Customer demand is enormous’
‘We are overwhelmed by the positive feedback on the new Polo GTI R5*,’ said Volkswagen Motorsport Director Sven Smeets. ‘The customer demand is enormous. We are pleased about this, and it is an additional motivation to provide the teams with the best possible rally car.’

‘We assemble each car by hand in our workshop in Hanover,’ said Juliane Gründl, head of sales and distribution at Volkswagen Motorsport. ‘We are on schedule. However, we are still in the process of structuring production, and in the aftersales implementation phase. We obviously want to be ideally positioned in time for the sales launch.’

FIA regulations have determined part of the car’s make-up said Volkswagen Motorsport Technical Director François-Xavier ‘FX’ Demaison: ‘The air restrictor regulation is one of the cost-reducing measures in the R5 category, and engineers’ hands are also tied by R5 regulations in other areas. For instance, many technical components must come from a production vehicle, while standard parts are required in other areas.

‘The Polo GTI R5 uses the gearbox and four-wheel drive system of suppliers who also supply the competition. Working with our technical development colleagues in Wolfsburg and the ŠKODA motorsport staff, whose R5 vehicle has been competing since 2015, was a great help,’ elaborated Demaison.

‘The price limit is a challenge’
For 2018, the FIA-sanctioned price for an R5-category car will be €190,000. ‘The price limit is a challenge for every development department. We inevitably have to make compromises because you can’t simply choose the optimal solution in terms of performance which would probably also be the most expensive. It has to be affordable,’ explained Demaison.

‘But engineers are used to conforming with guidelines, whether they’re technical or financial. And because the R5 category is about customer motorsport, these cost containment measures make perfect sense,’ he added. Therefore, the wider wings of the Polo GTI R5 are not made from ultra-lightweight, expensive carbon fibre, but rather from affordable plastic.

Development of the latest Volkswagen Motorsport rally Polo began at the start of 2017, ahead of the launch of the sixth-generation Polo road car. Testing began in December in France, the UK, and Germany, and the plan is for the car to have its official homologation and subsequent debut on the 2018 Rally of Germany in the summer.

272bhp, 0 to 62mph in 4.1 seconds
Whereas the production Polo GTI** has a 197bhp, 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine, its rallying relative is capped to 1.6 litres, but 272bhp and 295lb ft / 400Nm of torque is sent through a five-speed sequential gearbox to all four wheels for maximum grip on any surface. A weight of just 1,230kg (the Polo GTI road car tips the scales at 1,355kg) sees the new Hanover rally racer rocket to 62mph from rest in just 4.1 seconds, 2.6 seconds faster than the road car.

It all sounds very promising, and we can’t wait to see the new car in angry action. We also excitedly await the Polo GTI R5 writing the next chapter in Volkswagen’s rich rallying story.

* Polo GTI R5: the concept vehicle has not gone on sale, and therefore Directive 1999 / 94 EC does not apply.

** Polo GTI (147kW / 197bhp) fuel consumption in l/100 km: urban 7.7 / extra-urban 4.9 / combined 5.9; CO2 emissions (combined) in g/km: 134; efficiency class: C.