PoloDriver

There will be another Polo RX on the grid at the start of the Euro RX of Barcelona this weekend (16-18 September), the seventh round of the 2016 FIA European Rallycross Championship. Former Swedish rallycross champion Peter Hedström will jump into an ex-Marklund Motorsport Polo RX Supercar at the Spanish event. The near-600bhp Supercar will appear again in the Latvian round of the programme (30 September to 2 October).

‘Go for a win in Barcelona’
Previously a Ford Fiesta Supercar driver, Hedström swapped to the Polo for the first time at a recent round of the RallyX Nordic Championship, and promptly won. ‘I will go for a win in Barcelona,’ said Hedström. ‘The Polo is very good – I like it very much. There’s nothing wrong with the Fiesta but the Polo suits my driving style better. I loved the Skoda Fabia I raced before and the Polo is not a big difference to that,’ he continued.

Divulging that the Polo is better-suited to his all-out style, Hedström commented: ‘The engine is better in the Polo than the Fabia, but the driving style is very similar. The Ford is good, too but I am an action driver, I like to go flat out and the Polo works for me. Last year Barcelona was only my second race with the Fiesta and it was a big difference from the Skoda. It took some time to go as fast as I could, but I was in the final.’

Expanded World RX programme
Hedström is looking at an expanded programme of World RX events for the 2017 season. ‘The plan is that we will have two cars exactly the same next year. I want to drive in seven World Championship races, or maybe the European Championship and in two or three World Championship events. But the plan is to drive more World Championship races in 2017.’

Johan Kristofferson and Anton Marklund currently run Polo RXs in the World Rallycross Championship, while Tord Linnerud drives one of the small VWs in the same European series as Hedström. Ernestas Staponkus meanwhile, has a car in the Super 1600 championship.