PoloDriver

Here it is then. After months of speculation, Volkswagen has finally announced that it is to mount a full World Rally Championship (WRC) assault in 2013 with the wide-arched and aggressive-looking Polo R WRC. Pulling the covers off the Polo R WRC in Sardinia barely an hour ago, Volkswagen Motorsport Director Kris Nissen said, ‘We look forward to this new challenge and are working on this project with the same passion with which we won the Dakar Rally in the past three years.’ Final specifications are yet to be finalised, but expect 300bhp from a 1.6-litre TSI engine and four-wheel-drive. The timing of the unveil is significant: today is the eve of the Rally d’Italia Sardegna, and both Series 2 and Series 5 Polos were unveiled in Sardinia.

New technical rules have come into effect in the WRC this year. For the first time, engines with a maximum displacement of 1600cc, direct-injection and turbochargers are permitted. Citroën, Ford and Mini currently field cars in the championship – DS3, Fiesta, and Mini Countryman respectively – and Volkswagen sees the WRC as a perfect fit. ‘Downsizing, high efficiency and reliability are top priorities for our customers. The timing of the Wold Rally Championship debut is optimal for Volkswagen. The big task of engineering a vehicle that is competitive and capable of winning at a large number of challenges holds great appeal for us,’ said Dr Ulrich Hackenberg, Member of the Management Board of the Volkswagen Brand, Development Division.

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Contrasting with Volkswagen South Africa’s ‘Date Drive’ campaign, Volkswagen Singapore are launching the latest Polo GTI with the help of international beat-boxer Dharni Ng, and just like the South African campaign, the multimedia activities are aimed to get at younger drivers into the performance Polo. The one-minute commercial produced by advertising agency Tribal DDB Singapore – that accompanies an online game – sees noises from the car mixed into Ng’s beat-box soundtrack. The online game meanwhile, tests potential beat-boxer’s skills, with the winner getting the use of a Polo GTI for a weekend (a similar tactic to the South African campaign, where Polo GTIs are delivered when two Twitter users agree to a date) and runs until 8 May. More information on the Singaporean Polo GTI can be found here.

[Source: Adweek.com]

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In the third rounds of the 2011 Engen Volkswagen Cup last weekend at the Scribante Raceway near Port Elisabeth, Devin Robertson and Lee Thompson each celebrated a race win. In the aggregate score of both races, victory of the day went to the 18-year-old Robertson in front of Lee Thompson and Kosie Weyers, who clinched second and sixth places respectively in the field of the 25 Volkswagen Polo racers.

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 racers. The next rounds of the 2011 Engen Volkswagen Cup are scheduled for 4 June at the Phakisa circuit in Welkom.

[Source: Volkswagen South Africa // Images: keino@quickpic]

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First Europe, then the UK, Australia and Singapore. Now the next launch pad for the Polo GTI (6R) is South Africa. Building demand and teasing prospective buyers is this Ogilvy Cape Town-produced ‘Coming Soon’ 40-second preview film, which shows scant details about the car itself. With a nod to the ‘light’ campaign which heralded the fifth-generation Polo’s arrival in 2009, this clip directs would-be GTI drivers to the preview website – http://www.datedrive.co.za/ – where they can submit their details to Volkswagen South Africa in order to learn more about the car. Eager South African hot Polo fans can also catch up with the drip-feed information by following an active and dedicated Twitter feed at http://twitter.com/DateDrive. Facebook users can also share the video with their friends.

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The mammoth annual classic car event that is Techno Classica Essen, takes place over five days in Essen (no!) in Germany, and 2011’s event from 30 March to 3 April saw, as in previous years, a predictably large Volkswagen Group attendance. As well as official stands from Volkswagen Classic – showing Karmann-based prototypes and vehicles from Osnabrück, including a 1973 Passat, 1974 Scirocco, Series 1 Golf Cabriolet prototype and the premiere of the new Series 6 Golf Cabriolet – Hall 8.1 offered a smattering of VW-brand clubs, and among them, IG Typ 86, and a trio of motorsport Polos. Sebastian Winkler of www.g-lader.info has kindly given us permission to use these photos of the Series 1 Polo track-based wide-arch Polos, and a rally-spec Group H Series 2 Polo G60. More pictures and Sebastian’s HD video of the Techno Classica Essen 2011 event can be found here.

[Images: Sebastian Winkler]

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