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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.

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Volkswagen Motorsport may have closed its doors, but the rally monster that is the Polo GTI R5 can still be seen out on the stages. At least 15 of the 272bhp four-wheel drive rally machines were made before the end of 2018, its debut year, and the rally GTI has tasted victory in the hands of famous names, including Oliver Solberg, son of world champion Petter Solberg.

Another celebrated rallying name is now associated with the GTI R5. Niclas Grönholm, son of two-time WRC title holder and former Volkswagen test driver Marcus Grönholm took the wheel of a MRF-tyred Polo for the 2021 Arctic Lapland Rally. The Finnish event ran from 15-16 January and Grönholm’s ALM Motorsport-prepared car came home in tenth place overall at the end of the seven-stage event. The result puts the young Finnish rallycross driver and his co-pilot Antti Linnaketo sixth in the 2021 Finnish Rally Championship.

‘Very challenging’
‘It was great to have two cars wearing MRF Tyres inside the top 10. The stages were in good condition, but there was a lot of loose snow, and it was very challenging,’ reported Grönholm.

Other Arctic Lapland Rally Polo GTI R5 runners included the pairings of Egon Kaur and Silver Simm for Kaur Motorsport; Georg Linnamäe and Tanel Kasesalu in another ALM Motorsport car; and Jussi Keskiniva and Mikko Kaikkonen in a Printsport-liveried Polo. Keskiniva finished 18th overall, with Linnamäe 21st and Kaur 30th. The 2021 event isn’t the first at which Polo GTI R5s have been seen in action: in 2019, Emil Lindholm and Mikael Korhonen helmed their small VW to victory.

There is more Polo GTI R5 action next weekend, as four cars are scheduled to take part in the 2021 running of the legendary Rallye Monte-Carlo.

[Images: MRF Tyres / Volkswagen Motorsport]

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Volkswagen Motorsport GmbH, the Hanover-based outfit behind the four World Rally Championship title-winning Polo R WRC, and the current Polo GTI R5, is being integrated into Volkswagen AG. The 169-strong workforce will be offered employment at Volkswagen AG, as the company ceases all motorsport activities and realigns itself with the age of electromobility.

Successful run
Production of the sixth-generation Polo-based GTI R5 will finish at the end of 2020, though spare parts will be ‘ensured in the long term’ to service teams who run the 270bhp four-wheel drive machines in national and international championships. An end to the Polo’s successful run which began in 2013, it sadly spells the final curtain on the Polo’s officially backed role in motorsport.

In addition to the quartet of World Rally Championship titles Volkswagen Motorsport scored with the Polo R WRC from 2013-2016, the Polo RX won a trio of rallycross world championship titles in 2017, 2018 and 2020, most notably through a pairing with Petter Solberg. Up-and-coming driver Johan Kristoffersson also formed an unbeatable and winning bond with the rallycross Polo.

VW states it is “pooling its strengths for the transformation into the mobile electric age” as part of its wide-ranging refocus. ‘The Volkswagen brand is on the way to becoming the leading provider of sustainable electromobility,’ stated Dr Frank Welsch, Volkswagen brand Board Member for Development.

‘We are pooling our strengths and have decided to discontinue our own motorsport activities for the Volkswagen brand. The workforce will subsequently be integrated into Volkswagen AG.’ Welsch also explained that the ‘in-depth technical expertise’ of the Volkswagen Motorsport employees and the knowledge gained from the ID R electric racing car project will feed into the development of the incoming ID range of cars.

‘Significant sporting successes’
‘The Volkswagen Motorsport GmbH team has had significant sporting successes for the brand over the decades. My sincere thanks go to all employees for the many victories, titles and records around the world and their personal commitment,’ said Wilfried von Rath, Volkswagen brand Member of the Board of Management, adding that the Hanover workforce will be offered employment at Volkswagen AG in Wolfsburg, and will be integrated into the company over the coming months.

As well as the components for the Polo GTI R5, spares for the Golf GTI TCR will also be safe in the long term. The 335bhp track machine secured a pair of TCR International titles in 2016 and 2017. Both machines are customer sports propositions, Volkswagen Motorsport not running any ‘factory-backed’ teams itself.

Five-decade history
Volkswagen Motorsport’s history goes back five decades, starting with Formula Vee in the 1960s and 1970s. Subsequent participation in Formula 3, national and World Rally Championships (with both second and third-generation Golf GTIs, as well as the Polo R WRC), circuit racing series and three Dakar Rally events show it was a company to be reckoned with in the world of motorsport.

More recently, the electric ID R single-seater successfully showcased Volkswagen Motorsport’s technical skill. The EV racer holds five international records, including the overall fastest hill climb times at Pikes Peak and the Goodwood Festival of Speed, as well as the quickest electric car lap on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife.

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Italian tyre manufacturer Pirelli has been appointed as official exclusive supplier to the Polo GTI R5. Volkswagen Motorsport states that from 2020, its customer sports rally car will be delivered exclusively with Pirelli competition tyres, and that its new partner will also now supply the car’s rubber for testing sessions.

Since the start of the year, the 270bhp four-wheel drive rallying Polo has been fitted with 235/40 R18 (size 20/65 18) asphalt Pirelli rubber. Official fitments will now be the P Zero RA for asphalt surfaces – in hard, medium, soft and supersoft compounds – the Scorpion K for gravel, and the Sottozero Ice and Sottozero Snow for events in winter conditions.

‘Great success in rallying’
‘We are delighted to welcome Pirelli as an official supplier of the Volkswagen customer rallying project,’ said Volkswagen Motorsport director Sven Smeets. ‘Pirelli is synonymous with great success in rallying and is very prevalent in international and national series held in accordance with R5 regulations. This way, our customers receive top-class and extremely successful tyre technology with the delivery of their Polo GTI R5.’

‘The technology contained within our rally tyres is born from a long experience at the top of motorsport,’ said Terenzio Testoni, Pirelli’s rally activity manager. ‘Our latest collaboration with Volkswagen on the Polo GTI R5 highlights the close collaboration that Pirelli enjoys with the world’s leading car makers to develop the best possible interaction between cars and tyres, delivering maximum performance in competition.’

A celebrated partnership
Since its debut at the 2018 Rally Spain, the Polo GTI R5 has celebrated four titles, 75 overall victories and class wins, as well as 150 podium results in the hands of customer teams. Fifty cars were delivered up to the end of 2019. Volkswagen’s motorsport association with Pirelli dates back as far as 1976, when the Italian tyre maker was the exclusive supplier for the first VW one-make series, the Scirocco-starring Volkswagen Junior Cup. In rallying, Pirelli and Volkswagen were crowned Group A world champions together in 1986. More recently, Pirelli, VW Motorsport and the Polo GTI R5 won titles in Estonia and Latvia with Oliver Solberg and Aaron Johnston.

Pirelli’s motorsport history stretches back over 110 years, and the Milanese firm has celebrated notable successes on the race track and rally stages. It debuted in the inaugural season of the World Rally Championship in 1973, and subsequently won 25 world championship titles and 181 race wins, with the P7 and P Zero among its roll-call of successes. Among its most acclaimed victories include WRC wins with Richard Burns/Robert Reid in 2001, Petter Solberg/Phil Mills in 2003, and Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena in 2008. Pirelli will also supply the top most category in the WRC for the coming season.

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Double world rallycross champion Johan Kristoffersson will return to the series in 2020, in a Polo GTI RX. The Swede won consecutive titles in 2017 and 2018 with a Polo GTI RX as part of Petter Solberg’s PSRX Volkswagen Team Sweden squad, and returns with his sights set on a third championship victory.

Kristoffersson campaigned selected rallying events in the Volkswagen Motorsport Polo GTI R5 during 2019, and also enjoyed competing in the World Touring Car Championship (WCTR). ‘It has been a hectic period… There have been many alternatives, but right now I feel really satisfied. Rallycross is very close to my heart. All our energy and focus is now on World RX,’ he said. In 2020, his 600bhp Polo GTI RX will wear Volkswagen Dealerteam BAUHAUS livery.

He may have been away from the sport, but that doesn’t mean Kristoffersson hasn’t been following the action. ‘I have caught up with some of the races I missed and my conclusion is that our opponents took steps forward during 2019. I have learnt from both rally and racing. That mix is what makes rallycross,’ he said. ‘I’m really looking forward to this season and it is a bit special to do it with Kristoffersson Motorsport. When we entered rallycross in 2014, we set a three-year plan to become world champions.’

‘A very competent squad’
Head of the squad Tommy Kristoffersson knows the challenges the team face in 2020: ‘To run a family team in the world championship is really above our heads, but thanks to great support from our main partners, the Volkswagen dealers in Sweden and BAUHAUS, we felt it was worth giving it a go,’ he said. ‘We hope to score good results early on, giving us a chance for extra support for the later part of the season. Of course, this puts pressure on our team, but I feel assured we have a very competent squad.’

‘Rallycross is surrounded by emotions and the organisers have found a great concept for the events. With a double world champion behind the wheel, the pressure is on. Of course we will be there aiming to win, but anyone involved in this business knows it’s not that easy. After all, we’re a private team and the resources are limited, not even close to 2017 and 2018. Also, the car will be based in Arvika, not in Hannover, even though we will be buying services from Volkswagen Motorsport,’ Kristoffersson senior said.

Johan Kristoffersson’s super-Polo won’t be the only small Volkswagen on the 2020 RX tracks. Norwegian Sondre Evjen will also drive a Kristoffersson Motorsport-built Polo in the European Rallycross Championship (Euro RX) as he did in 2019, and compatriot Thomas Bryntesson has confirmed that he will also drive a Polo Supercar in Euro RX, run by his own team TBRX. Sweden’s Pontus Tidemand will also pilot a Hedstroms Motorsport-run Polo. The Czech Republic’s Ales Fucik, is also behind the wheel of a Polo, for the KRTZ Motorsport ACCR team. Philip Gehrman from Sweden is also in a Polo, campaigned by Bridgestone and First Stop Motorsport.

First rounds postponed
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic currently sweeping the globe, the first two rounds of the 2020 series, the World RX of Catalunya-Barcelona (18-19 April) and the World RX of Portugal (2-4 May), have been postponed. Check the FIA World Rallycross website for updated information regarding rescheduled dates.

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