Team of four Polo-T touring cars to run in the Chinese Touring Car Championship
If you were excited by the idea of the Polo going rallying when Volkswagen unveiled the Polo R WRC a couple of weeks ago, then you may be pleased to learn that a pumped-up Polo rally car isn’t the only way with which the model can flex its motorsport muscles. The Polo has been a circuit racer since the mid-1980s when Volkswagen ran the one-make Polo Cup, and similar, later championships have been staged in the China, Germany, India, Turkey and the UK, using all generations of Polo. 2011 for example, sees the Engen Volkswagen Cup (Volkswagen Polo Cup South Africa) in South Africa and the Volkswagen Polo Cup India 2011 in – surprise!– India. And while the former uses last-generation Polo-based Polo Vivos, the latter uses fully-fledge Polo track racers, based on the latest fifth-generation 6R model.
Now, added to all that track-based activity, is the introduction of the Polo-T touring car. Run in the 2011 Chinese Touring Car Championship (CTCC), the five-door shell is powered by an FIA-approved 1.6-litre turbocharged engine producing 250bhp/184kW. Shanghai VW 333 Racing have entered four cars into the 2011 CTCC, and we’ll be keeping an interested eye on the cars for the rest of the season. Three classes make up the CTCC. There is the China Production Class (CPC) – formerly the 1600cc class – and the Super Production Class with naturally aspirated engines (SPNA), as well as the new Super Production Turbo class (SPT) class for cars with 1.6 litre turbocharged engines, in which the Polo-Ts compete.
The wide-arched and big-winged Polo-Ts will rub body panels with Suzuki Swift Turbos and Chevrolet Cruzes over the eight race weekend series (which ends in November), and are driven by Han-Han, Wang Rue, Gao Hua Yang and Sun Chao. The first round on 9 and 10 April saw moderate success, with Gao Huayang’s Polo-T winning the SPT class, beating Chen Huping’s Suzuki Swift Turbo into second place. The only SPT class finishers at the STC circuit in Shanghai, the next round of the series takes place on 28 and 29 May at the ZIC circuit in Zhuhai.
[Source: vwwatercooled.org // Images: Shanghai VW 333 Racing]
