PoloDriver

In addition to being a successful circuit racer and rally car, the Volkswagen Polo has been a rallycross star, too. It has dipped out of the FIA World Rallycross (World RX) series in recent seasons due to the championship’s switch to electric-powered vehicles (although the Volkswagen RX1e was in all intents and purposes a Polo, at least certainly in silhouette). However, the VW is back to mix it on the mixed surface racetracks in 2024, as six-time World RX champion Johan Kristoffersson switches back to a combustion-engined car in his chase for a seventh career crown. 

Running on sustainable fuel, the (deep breath) 2024 Volkswagen Polo KMS 601 RX is the result of a partnership between Kristoffersson Motorsport (KMS) and Horse Powertrain, through Swedish company Aurobay. Supported by Volkswagen, Red Bull, and Bauhaus, a pair of Polos will compete in the inaugural ‘Battle of the Technologies’ campaign. Ole Christian Veiby will partner Kristoffersson in the second Polo RX. 

The cars have been developed in-house over the winter at the KMS Arvika workshop, and are described by team principal Tommy Kristoffersson as the best rallycross cars his crew has ever built. That looks to be true, in their only competitive outing to-date – at Tierp in the 2024 RallyX curtain-raiser – Kristoffersson and Veiby delivered a definitive one-two finish on both days. However, Kristoffersson is playing down their chances of repeating that feat at the highest level.

‘It will be tough to compete against the electric cars with our machines, but Aurobay is a dream partner for us, not only as a sponsor but also in technical terms,’ says Kristoffersson Jnr. ‘It will be fun to work with a long-term structure and plan accordingly. This is an exciting project that has a lot of typical KMS spirit about it.’

Veiby, who will be chasing his maiden World RX victory in 2024, echoes his teammate. ‘We are doing a turnaround and going in a different direction, which makes it difficult to predict how we will compare with the competition,’ he says. ‘There are many complicated elements that have to be tested on a new car, but it will be exciting to work with such a large and supportive partner,’ he continues.

Under the guiding hand of Kristoffersson Snr, KMS took the 2022 and 2023 World RX Teams’ trophies, and he is similarly upbeat about the new partnership, which he believes can help to send the outfit to the next level. ‘Aurobay is the best partner we can think of,’ says the multiple Swedish Rallycross Champion. ‘This is a win-win situation – we will benefit tremendously from each other. We both have a large staff of extremely talented engineers, meaning we will be able to exchange experiences and also personnel.

‘In the Volkswagen Group where I was trained, the motto has always been all motorsport should ultimately benefit the consumer. There is nothing that drives development forward as effectively as competition. With this project, we can take part in developing tomorrow’s engines,’ he states.

‘It’s inspiring to see the extreme desire and passion that exists within Horse Powertrain and Aurobay. Our ambition is a long-term collaboration for at least five years, which gives us the peace of mind to develop our cars with long foresight. We also hope to contribute to our partner becoming an obvious alternative as an engine manufacturer for many different car brands.

‘On the sporting side, “Battle of Technologies” is a fantastic concept that is unique to rallycross. It is an extremely big challenge, but an interesting one. We have a brand new car, a brand new partner and a very short timespan to match the electric cars. Although we have won in World RX for the last few years, we have to be humble and realise it will take a lot for us to fight for the title again, but having always aspired to be an attractive team for someone who is looking for a development partner, now we are there, it feels incredibly satisfying,’ Kristoffersson reports. 

Aurobay has developed, engineered and manufactured next-generation powertrain solutions for over 100 years, while Horse Powertrain Limited is a global leader in hybrid and combustion powertrain components and systems. With a 19,000-strong workforce across three continents, it partners with automotive OEMs worldwide to enable a faster transition to cleaner mobility.

‘Our vision for racing and performance is that we want to show the world our off-the-shelf two-litre engines can be tuned to much higher power levels to achieve great results in motorsport,’ explains Michael Fleiss, Aurobay Sweden CEO. ‘The FIA World Rallycross Championship is a fantastic platform for Horse Powertrain Ltd to show what ICE can deliver when powered by alternative fuels,’ says Matias Giannini, CEO of Horse Powertrain Limited. ‘We can provide powerful, lightweight and modular solutions for any occasion.’

The 2024 World RX campaign will get underway on KMS-Horse Powertrain home soil at Höljes’ legendary World RX of Sweden ‘Magic Weekend’ on 6-7 July. Kristoffersson and Veiby will be joined by Gustav Bergström and Sondre Evjen who will be driving a pair of electric Volkswagen RX1e rallycross machines.

The Bauhaus Royal Rally of Scandinavia, the third round of the 2024 European Rally Chamipionship, will have a true world-class driver ranks when it gets under starter’s orders in Karlstad, Sweden on 13 June. Petter Solberg has once again been coaxed out of ‘retirement’, and will be behind the wheel of his Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 rally car.

Important vehicle
The car was last seen in action at the 2019 Wales Rally GB, and is a hugely important vehicle when it comes to sixth-generation Polo rally machines. Wearing chassis number one, it is the first Polo GTI R5 ever made by Volkswagen Motorsport. Solberg said the car was ‘calling him’ to be taken back to rally stages, and that he also had some encouragement from his son Oliver Solberg, the 2019 FIA ERC1 Junior Rally Champion. Solberg, who won the 2003 World Rally Championship said: ‘It was calling me… every time I was in the workshop, the car was telling me to use it! You can’t ignore that.’

‘You know me, you know this family – rallying is everything to us,’ Solberg continued. Last year I took my mother for a ride in my Citroën C4 WRC on one stage of Royal Rally. That was nice, but Oliver was having all the fun and winning the rally. I want to have some of that fun!” Solberg exclaims. Going with the Norwegian and his Polo to Sweden is Monster Energy, Pirelli, and Castrol, and the car will be wearing a special new and distinctive livery.

Solberg is preparing for his ‘fun’ on a simulator, and will bring his Polo out of hibernation for pre-event testing. ‘We’re hoping to make a proper test with the Polo before the rally. I think the driving should be OK, it’s more the pacenotes which take some more practice, as I haven’t competed on a rally for almost six years. I drove a stage on this rally last year, but my mother was co-driving – and she was not reading the pacenotes for me!’ Solberg joked.

Solberg’s Polo GTI R5 last turned its wheels in anger at last year’s Royal Rally of Scandinavia in the hands of Solberg Jnr – who is also competing in the same Swedish round of the ERC as his father in a Skoda Fabia Rally2. ‘Basically, he won the event, we washed the car down and put it in the museum. Now we will take it out, dust it down and go for a test,’ reports Solberg, who first slipped behind the wheel of chassis number one six years ago.

‘I was helping to test the Polo GTI R5, working with F-X Demaison, then technical director at Volkswagen Motorsport, and then competing in Catalunya with it in 2018. I have some really happy memories with the car. When we were in Spain, we were setting fastest times in WRC2 and having a fantastic time. After that, Oliver has driven it sometimes; he grew up with the car, so it is a special one,’ Solberg explains.

‘One hell of a competition’
‘I don’t go to Karlstad trying to win, it’s for the show and to enjoy the driving. We know there are a lot of very fast drivers in ERC – it’s one hell of a competition. It will be tough. It’s five years since I did Rally GB (winning WRC2 and finishing 10th overall), nothing since then. The speed is incredible in the championship and you can’t just switch it back on,’ he continued. ‘This is the European Rally Championship with some big names and, don’t forget, a lot of those drivers have more experience of the stages than I do, having done the inaugural event last year.

‘It’s like this,’ laughed Petter. ‘I am Rocky coming back! I remember this film, it was a good fight, but Rocky didn’t win in the end… Seriously, this is to enjoy. The priority is to drive the car to give something to the rally fans coming from Norway and for those people watching the ERC from around the world. Last year we worked hard to help the organisers to build this event up and this is the same. Like always, we do everything we can to build rallying up some more,’ explained Solberg.

Jonas Andersson is on co-driving duties, and Solberg is revved up for the whole experience. ‘I am really looking forward to this, being back in the car is something special. I’m so excited. The comeback is on!’ Asked whether he can win, Solberg said coyly, ‘You know what it’s like when the helmet is coming on the head… I will say all of these things about the tough competition, but when the lights go out at the start of the stage – we all have one aim!’

Solberg’s PSRX World Rallycross Polo teammate Johan Kristoffersson will also be reunited with a Polo GTI R5 for the Royal Rally event, after being asked by Kristoffersson Motorsport sponsors Bauhaus. The six-time World Rallycross champion will compete with his family team’s Polo, with his former co- driver Stig Rune Skjærmoen. ‘I haven’t driven a gravel rally in the forest for five years, so expectations are low,’ Kristoffersson said. ‘It would have been nice to prepare properly, but there’s no time, so we’ll take it as it comes. It’s still fun to be the underdog for a change.’

A springboard for young racing driver talent in South Africa, the Volkswagen Polo Cup has a new sponsor for 2024. Volkswagen Motorsport South Africa is partnering with Astron Energy who becomes the title sponsor for the upcoming season. The 2024 Astron Energy Polo Cup runs as part of the South African National Championship Extreme Festival over seven rounds across the country, and marks the one-make racing series’ 28th year of competition.

Excellent platform
With a network of 850 service stations being rebranded over the next four years, Astron Energy is a leading supplier of petroleum products in South Africa. The field of Polo GTI and Polo GTC SupaCup racing cars will use the company’s Quartech fuel, which has claimed friction reduction properties to help deliver improved protection against damage from combustion. Astron Energy sees the young racing drivers’ championship as an excellent platform to promote its reimagined fuel brand.

‘We are delighted to confirm our partnership with Volkswagen Motorsport as the title sponsor for the 2024 Astron Energy Polo Cup,’ said Astron Energy head of marketing, Thayuri Moodley. ‘The MSA South African National Championship Polo Cup has discovered some of South Africa’s most exciting racing talents over the years, with past champions Sheldon and Kelvin van der Linde, Jordan Pepper, and Leyton Fourie among others, going on to great things in local and international motorsport. Astron Energy looks forward to being an integral part of the next chapter of the thrilling Polo Cup story,’ continues Moodley.

‘Great impetus’
‘As Volkswagen Motorsport, we are delighted to welcome Astron Energy aboard as our Polo Cup title sponsor from 2024,’ said Head of Volkswagen Driving Experience, Mike Rowe. ‘Not only will Astron Energy bring great impetus to the Volkswagen Polo Cup, but we look forward to proving Astron Energy’s new premium additive Quartech Petrol in our field of Polo GTI Cup racing cars in action on track,’ Rowe continues.

The series gets underway on 15 March at Killarney in Cape Town, and the winner of the 2024 Astron Energy Polo Cup champion will earn a drive in a Polo GTC SupaCup racer in the 2025 GTC SupaCup championship.

Alongside the series production-based Polo GTI Cup racers, the Polo GTC SupaCup competes in the exclusive-to-South Africa GTC (Global Touring Car) Championship in the SupaCup class. Devoted to more production-biased machines, as opposed to the ‘silhouette’-type racers of the top-level GTC class – in which Volkswagen Motorsport South Africa fields a Golf 8 GTI GTC – the Polo GTC SupaCup still has almost 300bhp, and wears a square-arched body kit, echoing that of the Polo GTI R5 rally car.

The fifth-generation Volkswagen Polo enjoyed huge success in motorsport, not only winning the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) four consecutive times from 2013-2016, but also taking the spoils in the frenetic and punishing World Rallycross series, too.

Driven by Johan Kristoffersson and three-time FIA world champion and WRC legend Petter Solberg among others, it’s been five years since the Polo graced the top level of rallycross with Solberg behind the wheel. But on the weekend of 4-7 May, the Norwegian driver and hillclimb star will be reunited with the 570bhp Polo R WRX at the 2023 Simola Hillclimb in South Africa.

Most successful modern rallycross car
Plucked from his retirement and driving for Volkswagen Motorsport South Africa, Solberg will be piloting the fire-spitting machine which Kristoffersson drove to victory in 2017. With a pair of drivers’ titles and two team FIA World Championship wins, the Polo R WRX Supercar could just be the most successful race car of the modern rallycross era.

Developed from the Polo R WRC rally car but more of a ‘silhouette’ racer, the Polo R WRX Supercar’s standout features include engine cooling with an emphasis on aerodynamics, making it far more efficient. The rear wing of the Polo R WRX creates more downforce and allows a wide range of set-up options. Powered by a four-cylinder engine with a massive 570bhp (419kW), peak torque of 650Nm (479lb ft) is developed at 5,000rpm. Power is put down using a six-speed sequential racing gearbox, and it takes just 1.9 seconds to complete the 0-62mph sprint.

‘Polo R WRX Supercar from the museum’
‘The guys at Volkswagen Motorsport South Africa are so professional,’ said an excited Solberg. ‘They agreed for me to come and drive at the Simola Hillclimb event, and then agreed to bring the Polo R WRX Supercar from the museum in Wolfsburg. This is the proper way of doing things – I like it!’ he continues.

‘Can I win? Let’s see. They told me the winner’s average speed last year was 200km/h (124mph) – my car will only do 200km/h! You know me, I will try. We will push and see what is possible. One thing is certain, it’s going to be fantastic to be back with this car again. I have such good memories of the Polo R WRX Supercar. We ran these cars for me and Johan, with our family team (PSRX Volkswagen Sweden) winning all the titles through 2017 and 2018. Good times,” reflects Solberg.

‘We are very excited to announce that Petter Solberg will be making his way to South Africa to race in the Polo R WRX Supercar,’ said Mike Rowe, head of Volkswagen Motorsport South Africa. ‘Solberg’s partnership with VW goes back to 2017 when he set up PSRX Volkswagen Sweden with factory works support from Volkswagen Motorsport and we are thrilled to have brought Petter back to race for us in South Africa,’ Rowe continues.

Volkswagen Polo SupaCup
Alongside Solberg, seasoned racer Graeme Nathan will also be representing Volkswagen in a Polo SupaCup car, a 308bhp racer built specifically for South Africa’s GTC SupaCup support series. The 2.0-litre turbocharged ‘EA888’ four-cylinder engine has 420Nm of torque, and as Nathan and the SupaCup Polo came second in the Class B2 finals in one of the closest margins – 0.016 seconds – in the history of the Simola Hillclimb in 2022, he will certainly be up for the fight in 2023.

Joining Nathan’s and Solberg’s Polos will be an eighth-generation Golf R, driven by Volkswagen Motorsport South Africa drivers Jonathan Mogotsi and Daniel Rowe. Solberg’s rallycross-driving brother Henning will also compete on the 1.18-mile (1.9-kilometre) hill in Knysna, Western Cape.

Four-time FIA World Rallycross Champion Johan Kristoffersson is returning to the series in 2022, with his sights set on a fifth Drivers’ prize. Three of those four series wins were at the wheel of a Polo RX, and the 33-year-old has confirmed that for 2022, he will be back in a Volkswagen. So, will it be a Polo?

Kristoffersson’s association with the rallycross Polo is legendary, so we can only hope that as the fire-breathing cars in the top-tier series are based on small hatches, there’s a good chance a Polo could make an RX return. But, what we do know is that if Kristoffersson’s machine does have ‘POLO’ on its backside, it won’t be like any other Polo, because it will be electric.

Electric powertrain
Yes, that’s right. Kristoffersson Motorsport (KMS) is fielding three Volkswagens in the World RX’s inaugural electric campaign. Alongside Kristoffersson will be two team-mates, and underpinning the cars will be the Kreisel Electric-developed RX1e electric powertrain. With a pair of motors, up to 500kW – equivalent to 680bhp – and 880Nm of torque available instantly will mean the cars will have acceleration faster than an Formula 1 car.

The idea of an electric motorsport isn’t so outlandish. Baumschlager Rallye & Racing GmbH has been event testing Kreisel’s similar RX-E1 electric drivetrain in rally situations, using a Skoda Motorsport-prepared Fabia, so the concept isn’t new – and the Fabia is a Volkswagen Group product – but it will be interesting to see the technology into another discipline. Ideally suited to RX because of its short spring race format, Kristoffersson is energised by the move to electric. As in 2020, KMS will run under the Volkswagen Dealerteam BAUHAUS banner.

‘Really inspiring’
‘It’s really inspiring to be part of rallycross’ new electric era right from the outset,’ he stated. ‘The last time we undertook a project on a scale of this kind was in 2014, when we built our own cars for the first season of the World Rallycross Championship. The big difference is that back then, I was completely inexperienced in rallycross – whereas things are a little different now..

‘There are a lot of unknowns when everything is so new. In recent years, we have all followed proven concepts, so the development steps have been comparatively small – but there is much greater potential with these new cars,’ Kristoffersson continued. ‘Electric is the future for both motorsport and the automotive industry in general, and helping to drive that development is, for me, one of the most fascinating aspects of the sport. I expect an incredibly tough, competitive season ahead, and I’m excited to get started!’

‘Wealth of knowledge’
‘This will be the largest project in KMS’ history,’ said Tommy Kristoffersson, team manager of Kristoffersson Motorsport. ‘A small family business building and developing three new cars in accordance with a new concept clearly comes with great personal responsibility, but we can rely upon a team of extremely skilled individuals, and a wealth of knowledge and experience from Germany and within our own workshop in Arvika.’

‘Johan Kristoffersson is one of the biggest motorsport names Sweden has ever known,’ stated Sten Forsberg, CEO, Volkswagen Sweden. ‘Four FIA World Rallycross Championship titles is an outstanding accomplishment, and we wish him all the best now that he is taking the step into the sport’s new electric era – most importantly, with a Volkswagen emblem on the front of his car.’

The action will get underway at the Swedish rallycross track Höljes on 2-3 July, but details of the car itself and the remaining pair of drivers are expected to be announced soon. We’re keeping everything crossed for a Polo-shaped return to the premier rallycross series, and an exciting step into its possible electric future…