PoloDriver

The PSRX Volkswagen Sweden Polo GTI Supercars got off to a flying start at the first round of the 2017 FIA World Rallycross Championship, the World RX of Barcelona. The 570bhp Polos of Petter Solberg and Johan Kristoffersson were among the front-runners at the 1-2 April Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya event, with both cars reaching the Supercar Final.

Fastest qualifying time
As he lined up on the front row of the final, Kristoffersson had already claimed the fastest qualifying time in the first Free Practice session of the 2017 season, overtaking reigning champion Mattias Ekström. ‘That’s not a bad way to start the season for me and the team,’ smiled Kristoffersson. At the intermediate classification, US driver Ken Block was behind Kristoffersson, while the Swede’s team-mate Solberg was behind Block.

In the final race itself, Kristoffersson suffered a stalled start and had to eventually settle for sixth. Solberg fared better and finished fourth, narrowly missing out on a podium place: the Norwegian was was running third until Bakkerud overtook the two-time World RX champion on the first corner of the fourth lap. But, while there was no debut victory for the fledgling team, the PSRX Volkswagen Sweden Polo GTIs showed incredible pace and fired a warning salvo of potential performances to come.

2017 PSRX Volkswagen Sweden Polo GTI Supercar, World RX of Barcelona: Kristoffersson

2017 PSRX Volkswagen Sweden Polo GTI Supercar, World RX of Barcelona: Kristoffersson

2017 PSRX Volkswagen Sweden Polo GTI Supercar, World RX of Barcelona: Kristoffersson

2017 PSRX Volkswagen Sweden Polo GTI Supercar, World RX of Barcelona: Kristoffersson

2017 PSRX Volkswagen Sweden Polo GTI Supercar, World RX of Barcelona: Kristoffersson

‘Such strong pace’
Driver and team owner Solberg said: ‘I am so, so proud of what we have all achieved here. The last few months have been really crazy getting everything sorted out. But we are here and we are racing. We hoped to be on the pace and we hoped to show ourselves in a good light. It was a dream for us to have two cars in the final today and the dream came true. I’m so happy with the performance and couldn’t be happier with the team and for Johan, he showed such strong pace – he was the star driver for me.’

Kristoffersson shared his team-mate and boss’ outlook: ‘The team has put so much work in and everything is working so well from the first race. Naturally, I was a little disappointed with the final, I so wanted this result for the whole PSRX Volkswagen Sweden team – those guys worked so hard – but this is racing. The big thing is the pace we have from the car. It just makes me more determined do even better for the team at the second round.’

2017 PSRX Volkswagen Sweden Polo GTI Supercar, World RX of Barcelona: Solberg

2017 PSRX Volkswagen Sweden Polo GTI Supercar, World RX of Barcelona: Solberg

2017 PSRX Volkswagen Sweden Polo GTI Supercar, World RX of Barcelona: Solberg

2017 PSRX Volkswagen Sweden Polo GTI Supercar, World RX of Barcelona: Solberg

2017 PSRX Volkswagen Sweden Polo GTI Supercar, World RX of Barcelona: Solberg

Ekström won the overall 2017 World RX of Barcelona event, and leads the Drivers’ Championship, while Kristoffersson lies in fourth place, and Solberg one place further down the standings. PSRX Volkswagen Sweden lead the teams’ standings however, as the Volkswagen Motorsport-supported outfit scooped the most points collectively. Both PSRX Volkswagen Sweden drivers are looking forward to the next round of the championship at Montalnegre on 22-23 April: Kristoffersson and Solberg have won the World RX of Portugal event three times each!

Also at Barcelona, the opening round of the five-event 2017 FIA European Rallycross Championship (Euro RX), was won by Kristoffersson’s former team-mate Anton Marklund. The Swede took his Marklund Motorsport Polo Supercar home first ahead of Hungary’s Tamas Pal Kiss and Ireland’s Ollie O’Donovan, who finished second and third respectively.

2017 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS
1 Mattias Ekström, Audi S1: 29
2 Timo Scheider, Ford Fiesta RXS: 26
3 Andreas Bakkerud, Ford Focus RS: 22
4 Johan Kristoffersson, Volkswagen Polo GTI: 21
5 Petter Solberg, Volkswagen Polo GTI: 19

2017 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,
TEAMS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS
1 = PSRX Volkswagen Sweden: 40
1 = EKS: 40
3 Hoonigan Racing Division: 33
4 MJP Racing Team Austria: 30
5 Team Peugeot-Hansen: 20

[Images: FIAWorldRallycross.com / PSRX Volkswagen Sweden]

‘There is only one target: winning.’ That was the message which came from the new PSRX Volkswagen Sweden team yesterday as the new 2017 Volkswagen Polo rallycross competition car was unveiled in Stockholm. Its new drivers, ex-World Rally and Rallycross Champion Petter Solberg (also the PSRX team owner), and Johan Kristoffersson, who came second in the 2016 FIA World Rallycross season, pulled the covers off the new machine.

This year, the familiar rallycross Polo silhouette has both a new engine, as well as a new name – the ‘GTI’ badge has been attached to the project, to encourage correlation with the production car. That’s something the Polo R World Rally Championship (WRC) car never achieved, due to the lack of a true halo road-going powerful performance model.

‘Realisation of a dream’
The Volkswagen Polo GTI Supercar is, according to its new team, ‘the realisation of a dream for PSRX and a great new beginning for Volkswagen Sweden’, the latter of which gave its backing to Marklund Motorsport last year, running a pair of Polo RX Supercars for Kristoffersson and Anton Marklund. Now however, the official involvement of Volkswagen Motorsport should up the rallycross Polo’s game considerably.

The 2017 Volkswagen Polo GTI Supercar has 570bhp and will accelerate from 0-60mph in 1.9 seconds. With a chassis developed from the 2014 Volkswagen Polo R WRC, the engine is a development of the unit from the Beetle Global Rallycross Championship (GRC) car, which has contested events in the US for the past three years.

The latest version of Volkswagen’s rallycross machine uses similar damper and transmission technology to the Polo R WRC, too, but everything in the car’s dynamic and technical make-up has been adjusted to suit the demanding FIA World Rallycross (WRX) technical regulations, which sees cars take on mixed-surface short circuit racing venues.

Guiding hand
Another carryover to the new car is that the development was carried out by Volkswagen Motorsport in Hanover, with the German engineers under the guidance from Technical Director FX Demaison, who was a guiding hand in Volkswagen’s World Rally Championship dominance from 2013 to 2016. Demaison knows Solberg well: he worked with the Norwegian at Subaru and also with Solberg’s private WRC team.

In terms of appearance, the new rallycross challenger looks to have more in common to its rallying relation, too. The wheel arches bear more than a passing resemblance to the now defunct Polo R WRC, while the new 2017 livery colours take the electric blue/pale blue stripes of the former Volkswagen Motorsport rallying machine and mixes them with the matt black of Monster Energy.

All in all, it’s an exciting combination, then. And Kristoffersson agrees: ‘I think that it is so exciting. Getting started with Petter, PSRX and Volkswagen Sweden is perfect for me. What we must do now is to take advantage of this perfect partnership, do a perfect lap and a perfect finish!’ said the 28 year-old.

Solberg meanwhile is thrilled to have official involvement from both Volkswagen Sweden and Volkswagen Motorsport. ‘This is a dream for me. We have worked for this for so long and to have finally reached the finish. I’m so happy to be working with Volkswagen Sweden and Volkswagen Motorsport this year, and now we have a real opportunity to realise a dream.’

‘A beautiful monster’
The Polo GTI Supercar may have only been built in just three months, but Solberg is confident of its chances. ‘We have tested the Volkswagen Polo GTI Supercar for some time now and every time I step out of it, I do so with a smile on my face. And then I just want to step in and run some more. It is a real monster, but it’s a beautiful monster created by the brilliant people at Volkswagen Motorsport.’

The Norwegian continued: ‘I want to say a very, very big thank you to all the sponsors who made this year possible. All the efforts made during the pre-season will be awarded in 2017, I do not doubt for a moment. Johan and I will work as a team. I’ve known John a long time now, and we fully trust each other. We will work as a team and this year we compete on a totally equal terms.’

Volkswagen Motorsport Director Sven Smeets said: ‘We are looking forward to seeing the Polo GTI Supercar in its natural environment. We have worked very hard with PSRX and Volkswagen Sweden to get the Polo GTI Supercar completed in a relatively short time. Now that the car is ready and tested, we are all looking forward to the first race in Barcelona. We all want to see how Petter, Johan and our Polo fare against a very strong field in a very exciting championship.’

We look forward to watching the invigorated rallycross Polo in action, too. A taster of what we can expect is shown in the car unveiling video below. Better-looking, more powerful and perhaps more thoroughly developed than ever before, the 2017 Volkswagen Polo GTI Supercar appears set to mount an impressive challenge when the first round of the 2017 FIA World Rallycross Championship – the World RX of Barcelona – gets underway on 31 March to 2 April at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

2017 VOLKSWAGEN POLO GTI WRX SUPERCAR
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

ENGINE
Type: turbocharged and inter-cooled in line four cylinder, mounted transversely
Displacement: 2,000cc
Power output: 570bhp
Torque: 650Nm/479lb ft
Bore/stroke: 86 x 86mm
Air restrictor: 45mm (FIA regulation)
Engine control unit: Bosch

POWER TRANSMISSION
Gearbox: sequential six speed racing transmission
Final drive: permanent four-wheel drive with fixed drive between front and rear axles, front and rear multi-plate limited slip differentials
Clutch: hydraulically-actuated triple disc carbon

SUSPENSION
Front/rear: MacPherson struts, lower control arms, ZF dampers
Suspension travel: 240mm
Steering: servo-assisted rack and pinion
Braking system: vented 325mm front and rear brake discs, four-piston aluminium brake calipers
Wheels: 8.5 x 17-inch
Tyres: 225 x 640 R17 Cooper

BODYWORK
Build: FIA-controlled reinforced steel body

DIMENSIONS AND WEIGHT
Length/width/height: 4,000/1,820/1,452mm
Track width: 1,600mm
Wheelbase: 2,490mm
Minimum weight: 1,300kg

PERFORMANCE
Acceleration: 0-100kph/0-60mph in approx 1.9 seconds
Top speed: up to 200kph/124mph

Hot on the heels of the announcement that second placed 2016 World Rallycross Championship driver Johan Kristoffersson and ex-World Rally Champion Petter Holberg are teaming up to contest the 2017 series in a pair of Polo RX Supercars, comes this week’s news that Britain’s Guy Wilks will also run a similar car.

Highly successful 2016 machine
Two-time British Rally Champion and ex-WRC driver Wilks will contest all 12 rounds of the 2017 FIA World Rally Championship in a Polo RX Supercar, which just happens to be ‘Elsa’, Kristoffersson’s highly successful 2016 machine. Wilks has previous rallycross form, too, having competed in selected 2015 and 2016 rounds of the series.

The Englishman will be entered as an independent, supported by energy drink LOCO, whose branding will mean Wilks’ Polo should be easy to spot both on and off the track when the first round of the 2017 World Rallycross Championship, the World RX of Barcelona, gets underway on 31 March at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain.

‘Something I’ve always wished for’
‘To get an opportunity to do a full World Championship is something I’ve always wished for,’ explained an elated Wilks. ‘To compete in a car that finished second last year adds pressure but it is the ingredient that can make it realistic for me mix it at the top, even though the bar in World RX is getting raised year on year.

‘I want to thank LOCO energy drink and Marc Blackburn for this opportunity – he saw me drive at Lydden and Loheac in 2015 and believed in me from the start. I’m going to give it absolutely everything and we want to put ourselves up against the best. There’s still a lot of work to do but 2017 is going to be an awesome journey!’ added the 36 year-old from County Durham.

‘A talent behind the wheel’
Paul Bellamy, World RX Managing Director for IMG, concluded: ‘Guy is very familiar with rallycross – he’s regularly commentated alongside Andrew Coley on our TV show. There’s no denying he’s a talent behind the wheel and proved this when he reached the final on his rallycross debut at Lydden Hill back in 2015.’

While Volkswagen Motorsport’s official involvement in the 2017 FIA World Rally Championship may be over, it has confirmed a presence in this year’s FIA-administered rallycross series. In a surprise announcement, Volkswagen Sweden rallycross driver Johan Kristoffersson will join ex-world rally and two-time world rallycross champion Petter Solberg in heading up a new two-car Polo team for an assault on the 2017 FIA World Rallycross Championship.

The pair of 560bhp Polo RX Supercars have been developed and engineered by Volkswagen Motorsport in its workshops in Hannover and will appear under the Volkswagen Sweden banner. However, they will be run by Solberg’s PSRX team – with technical support from Volkswagen Motorsport – and supported by Volkswagen Sweden and its distributors.

‘Everything is possible’
Former DS 3 RX driver and Norwegian Solberg was delighted with the new deal: ‘This is the dream. With backing from Volkswagen Sweden and the top-notch Johan Kristoffersson as my team-mate, everything is possible. From the start, we are aiming at gold in the championship. This is my priority for 2017: I want to take this for my PSRX Team and for Volkswagen Sweden,’ he said.

Solberg added: ‘My team has worked so hard for so many years to be in the position to make this deal and now we’re here, it’s fantastic. It really is the dream for me. We have so much potential, but we also have a lot of work to do – but what an incredible future we are working towards now. Everything in the world is possible and achievable.’

‘A dream come true’
Kristoffersson was also excited about the new pairing: ‘I am incredibly proud to be part of this extremely exciting project with Petter and Volkswagen Sweden – it’s a dream come true in every way. Together we will do everything in our power to achieve success, and I intend to grab this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity with both hands’. Kristoffersson finished second in the 2016 World RX series.

Volkswagen Motorsport Director Sven Smeets concluded: ‘We are looking forward to working together with Petter, Johan and Volkswagen Sweden in the FIA World Rallycross Championship. Petter’s team and Volkswagen Sweden will take care of the operation of the whole project. This strong co-operation provides everything needed to be successful.’

‘Future objectives’
Smeets told Autosport that the new deal and greater RX focus ‘ties in with our future objectives’ following Volkswagen’s dramatic World Rally Championship withdrawal. It has been reported in the past few months that Volkswagen was just one manufacturer which was interested in an all-electric rallycross series. Such a series would fit nicely with the manufacturer’s plans to become a leader in electric car mobility.

Meanwhile, Kristoffersson’s former team-mate Anton Marklund will race a Polo RX Supercar in the Euro RX series for the Marklund Motorsport team, alongside new signing Magda Andersson. The first round of the 2017 World Rallycross Championship, the World RX of Barcelona, takes place at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya from 31 March to 2 April.

A consistent pace and a consistent season rewarded Volkswagen RX Sweden’s Johan Kristoffersson a second place in the last round of the 2016 FIA World Rallycross Championship, the World RX of Argentina. The final and twelfth event of the season took place at the Autodromo Rosario circuit from 25-27 November, and that consistency also netted Kristoffersson second place in the Drivers’ Championship, just 32 points behind champion Mattias Ekström of Audi team EKS.

A brilliant drive
A brilliant drive in both the semi-final and final races in Argentina helped Kristoffersson improve on his third place in the 2015 Drivers’ Championship, and was ample reward for the young Polo RX Supercar racer, who had battled hard throughout the 2016 season. The Swede was delighted with his runner-up position, partly gained thanks to not taking risks: ‘After the semi-finals I knew I had to be first or second in the final to be second in the championship. The start went well, and we managed to avoid any contact.

‘I have to admit I was driving a little bit like a grandma, avoiding punctures and no drifting or anything, but it’s such a great feeling to be second in the race and the Championship. At the beginning of the weekend it didn’t feel like we were where we wanted to be, but everyone worked really hard and we finished one place better than last season in the points. I have to say it’s very tight, for there to be only one point between second and fourth in the championship after 12 events is just amazing,’ he continued.

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Argentina: Kristoffersson

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Argentina: Kristoffersson

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Argentina: Kristoffersson

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Argentina: Kristoffersson

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Argentina: Kristoffersson

Banished bad luck
Qualification in the semi-final and seventh overall for second Volkswagen RX Sweden driver Anton Marklund helped the team secure third overall in the 2016 Teams’ Championship standings. Despite challenging weather conditions, Marklund banished the bad luck which has affected him and his 600bhp Polo this year and proved that by securing a place the semi-final, he has the pace to challenge for podium results and pick up valuable team points.

‘The track was tough in Rosario and it was hard for everyone to have three qualifying races on Sunday morning, but after some small issues we got the car perfectly in shape for Q4 and a good result put me into the semi-finals,’ said the ex-2012 FIA European Rallycross Championship Touringcar winner.

‘Unfortunately I got crashed into in the first corner and was never able to recover for a top-three finish to make it into the final. The pace was definitely there – I was catching Robin Larsson – but we just ran out of laps. It’s great that Johan was able to finish second for himself and we both managed to finish third in the Teams’ Championship to take the bronze medal back to Sweden.’

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Argentina: Marklund

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Argentina: Marklund

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Argentina: Marklund

‘We achieved it’
Team Principal Michael Schneider was delighted for the whole Volkswagen RX Sweden team that the weekend’s target had been reached. ‘Johan and Anton both performed so well this weekend. The way Johan drove in both the semi-finals and final was fantastic.

‘We had the chance to be second in the Drivers’ Championship and third in the Teams’ Championship coming here and we achieved it. I have to thank the team, sponsors, partners and team owner Jan Marklund. Everyone has worked so hard all season long and everyone deserves this,’ he exclaimed.

2016 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS
1 Mattias Ekström, Audi S1: 272
2 Johan Kristoffersson, Volkswagen Polo: 240
3 Andreas Bakkerud, Ford Focus RS: 239
4 Petter Solberg, Citroën DS3: 239
5 Sébastien Loeb, Peugeot 208: 209

2016 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

TEAMS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS
1 EKS: 422
2 Team Peugeot Hansen: 387
3 Volkswagen RX Sweden: 316
4 Hoonigan Racing Division: 302
5 World RX Team Austria: 226

[Images: FIAWorldRallycross.com / Volkswagen RX Sweden]