PoloDriver

Although not officially points scoring, one of the Volkswagen Motorsport-prepared Škoda Fabias emerged victorious in the S2000 class on the Rally GB on 11-13 November, also netting a twelfth place overall. Dutchman Kevin Abbring and co-driver Lara Vanneste’s result was the season’s best for the Volkswagen Motorsport team, while German driver Sepp Wiegand faced retirement on round 13, when along with co-driver Timo Gottschalk, he had been running in third place in the S2000 class.

With 354km of special stages, Rally GB was Volkswagen Motorsport’s fourth running of the Škoda Fabia S2000 pairing, to primarily gain test data for the company’s Polo R WRC car which will take to the forests, ice tracks and tarmac in 2013. Also evaluating young driving talents, Volkswagen Motorsport Director Kris Nissen was pleased with the latest stage of the programme: ‘Rally GB represents one of the biggest challenges in the WRC. Kevin Abbring and Lara Vanneste showed a very strong driving performance.’

The next competitive run planned by the Volkswagen factory team will be the legendary Monte Carlo Rally which will run from 18-22 January 2012. Two officially-prepared 270bhp four-wheel drive Škoda Fabia S2000s will take part in the season opener, which returns to the WRC calendar for the first time since 2009. The official Volkswagen Motorsport press release and image gallery follows.

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It’s all about rallying Polos this week. Last night, after Volkswagen Motorsport officially released details of the first Polo R WRC test in Veldenz, near Trier, Germany, Rallye-Mad.com posted another video of the premiere run, this time from day two. Another two-minute film, the rally Polo gets really angry, slipping, sliding and handbrake-turning into all sorts of leaf-covered, tree-lined hairpin corners. Once again, 1980s rally legend Carlos Sainz and Dr Ulrich Hackenberg, Member of the Volkswagen Brand Board of Management for the Development Division are the drivers. Sounding as sensationally pent-up as it did yesterday, click here for yesterday’s official preliminary testing details and atmospheric film from Volkswagen Motorsport, and here for the first Rallye-Mad.com video.

[Source: Rallye-Mad.com]

It wouldn’t have been long before Volkswagen officially released some details about the first test of the Polo R WRC in Germany, and here they are. Complete with a set of pictures and an official beautifully-shot video, rally legend and Dakar winner Carlos Sainz completed the first test in the vineyards of Veldenz, near to the location of the ADAC Rallye Deutschland stages with co-driver Timo Gottschalk alongside. ‘Next year we’ll be running an extensive testing programme on tarmac, gravel, mud and snow in order to prepare ourselves for the 2013 season as best we can,’ explained Volkswagen Motorsport Director Kris Nissen. The full Volkswagen Motorsport press released and images follow.

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We’d heard rumblings (and we bet folk in the vicinity of this forest did, too) that the Polo R WRC had turned a wheel in anger recently, and here’s the proof. Breaking last night and causing a flurry of WRC love on the internet last night, this two-minute video shows Volkswagen’s near-300bhp WRC weapon undergoing its first shakedown test through the German countryside in Veldenz. Tearing through the forest at full chat, the four-wheel drive Polo R WRC sounds sensational, and somehow better than we’d hoped. After what seems like an eternity – but in reality has only been six months – after its reveal at Rally d’Italia Sardegna, the wait has been worthwhile. Roll on 2013!

[Source: Rallye-Mad.com]

Volkswagen Motorsport’s Polo R WRC campaign became a little more prepped at the weekend, as a successful Rally de Espagna test was enjoyed by the factory team who plan to run Polo R WRCs in 2013. Once again, Škoda Fabia S2000s were used to gain experience in top flight rallying. Two teams took part – Germans Christian Riedemann and Michael Wenzel and Spaniards Yeray Lemes and Rogelio Peñate. Lemes and Peñate claimed fourth place in class and 14th overall, while Riedemann and Wenzel crossed the finish ramp in Salou eighth in class and 20th in the overall rankings. Volkswagen will continue its WRC preparations at the Wales Rally GB from 10-13 November. German Sepp Wiegand will drive with Dakar Rally-winning co-driver Timo Gottschalk while the Dutchman Kevin Abbring will line-up with co-driver Lara Vanneste. The full Volkswagen Motorsport press release follows.

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