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A ‘perfect performance’: that’s how PSRX Volkswagen Sweden described its double podium at the fourth round of the 2017 FIA World RX of Belgium, held at the Circuit Jules Tachney in Mettet. From the very start of the race weekend on 13-14 May, the 570bhp Polo GTI Supercars were at the top of the timesheets, just as at the last round, the World RX of Hockenheim in Germany.

Maiden victory
Johan Kristoffersson celebrated with the Torsby squad’s maiden victory, which was also the young Swede’s third World RX podium from just four races. ‘This is special,’ Kristoffersson said. ‘What an incredible feeling. I know Petter and I have talked about this a few times, but I think we are both so happy with the way the team is working with Volkswagen Motorsport and the speed we have had this weekend has shown that. The car has been perfect for me. From when we started the first practice, I have been driving with a huge smile on my face.

‘The final was really good. It was a shame not to be on the front row alongside Petter (Solberg)for the start, but the semi was a tough race and – in the end – it’s only the final that matters,’ he continued. The Swedish driver’s win moves him to within three points of the Drivers’ Championship lead. ‘I’m very, very happy with the start of the season,’ he said.

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

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

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

‘We all know that this is a new team with new people working together. It couldn’t have gone better – it’s the perfect relationship and we are getting faster and faster all the time. The teams’ championship is really a good place for PSRX Volkswagen Sweden, and Petter and I closed the gap to Mattias Ekström this weekend, which is fantastic as well,’ the 28 year-old enthused. Kristoffersson was also top qualifier after the event’s four qualifying sessions.

‘Strong partnership’
Veteran racer, ex-World Rally and Rallycross champion and team owner Petter Solberg placed third in Belgium, not helped by three punctures. The 42 year-old echoed his young team-mate’s sentiments: ‘What a weekend! We have seen this kind of speed coming for a while.

‘I’m so pleased for Johan, but I’m even more pleased for the whole team. The guys in Hannover at Volkswagen Motorsport and in our factory in Torsby have really come together for this result; the guys from Volkswagen brought the knowledge of the Polo and we have matched them with the knowledge of the sport. It’s made for a very strong partnership.’

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

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

2017 PSRX Volkswagen Sweden Polo GTI Supercar, World RX of Belgium: Kristoffersson and Solberg

The Norwegian, who was fastest in free practice, continued: ‘There was maybe a little bit of frustration when we had the speed but not the results earlier in the year, but here we have really put it all together. It was some tough racing out there this weekend, sometimes I felt a little bit like the meat – or maybe the ham and cheese – in the middle of the sandwich; I was being pushed from the back and from the side, from every direction.

‘But, you have to deal with that and you have to race with that pressure. It was intense, but we did it. On a personal level, three punctures this weekend really compromised my tyre strategy and for the final we really didn’t have much left to choose from – but we made it. Both cars in the final for the fourth consecutive race, a pair of cars on the podium and the first victory for PSRX Volkswagen Sweden!’

The next – and fifth – round of the 2017 FIA World Rallycross Championship is the World RX of Great Britain on 27-28 May at the home of rallycross, the legendary Lydden Hill circuit in Kent. The British round is the last which will be held at the track near Canterbury for now: the series moves to Silverstone in 2018.

2017 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS
1 Mattias Ekström, Audi S1: 101
2 Johan Kristoffersson, Volkswagen Polo GTI: 98
3 Petter Solberg, Volkswagen Polo GTI: 87
4 Timmy Hansen, Peugeot 208: 72
5 Sebastian Loeb, Peugeot 208: 62

2017 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

TEAMS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS
1 PSRX Volkswagen Sweden: 180
2 EKS: 143
3 Team Peugeot-Hansen: 133

[Images: FIAWorldRallycross.com / PSRX Volkswagen Sweden]

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Boosting his second place in the overall standings, Johan Kristoffersson took his Polo GTI Supercar to a second consecutive podium at the World RX of Hockenheim last weekend, the third round of the 2017 FIA World Rallycross Championship. Team-mate and PSRX Volkswagen Sweden team boss Petter Solberg finished fourth in Germany.

‘Exceptionally difficult weekend’
The two-Polo appearance in the Supercar Final maintained the Torsby-based squad’s 100 per cent record of both its cars in the last race. It wasn’t all plain-sailing, though: Solberg suffered an ‘exceptionally difficult weekend’. Fastest in free practice, the Norwegian was under attack in the qualifying rounds, but won the third qualifying session, and was runner-up in the fourth, elevating him from 14th overnight to fifth.

Overall, though, Solberg was pleased with his German result: ‘The first part of qualifying was really tough, but that’s when you have to dig deep. I’m going to be honest now, it was absolutely terrifying when I was hit by another car. I have had some big crashes in my career, but that one really scared me. When I came out of that race, I didn’t know what would happen.

‘As a team, we were a little bit in crisis. We talked about the technical and sporting side of what had happened and what we thought we could achieve with the rest of the weekend. At that time, just making the cut looked like it could be tough. But I wouldn’t want any other team around me at a time like this,’ Solberg enthused.

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

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

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

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

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

‘Experience, knowledge and determination’
‘PSRX Volkswagen Sweden showed what it’s all about this weekend; we used all of our experience, knowledge, and determination to put this weekend back together. Making the final was like winning the final. This one really was unbelievable,’ a thankful Solberg reported. The 42 year-old’s heroic fightback resulted in a second place in the semi-final and a fourth in the final, which means Solberg hangs on to his third spot in the overall drivers’ points table.

Kristoffersson on the other hand, enjoyed a weekend which was as calm as Solberg’s was traumatic. The young Swede won his semi-final and finished runner-up in the final itself, and was on sublime form. The winner at the Hockenheimring was current World RX champ Mattias Ekström.

‘PSRX Volkswagen Sweden did an amazing job this weekend,’ said Kristoffersson. ‘This team is still really new, but in round one the team was fourth in the final, last time we were third, this time we are second… in Belgium we will continue this progression and hopefully make first! Petter had a tough one, but for me things were a bit more straightforward.

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

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

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

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

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

‘Amazing speed’
‘The Polo GTI Supercar is showing amazing speed. The other big thing for me, for Petter and the team is what we are doing in the teams’ championship; 17 points clear is very, very impressive for this new team. We’re still learning, we’re still developing and we’re still getting faster – but this weekend we showed how to work as a team. I’m proud to be part of PSRX Volkswagen Sweden,’ said a jubilant Kristoffersson.

The fourth round of the 2017 FIA World Rallycross Championship series is the World RX of Belgium, which takes place on 13-14 May at the Circuit Jules Tacheny in Mettet, 20 kilometres south east of Charleroi. As neither PSRX Volkswagen Sweden driver has won the final at the Belgian circuit before, both will be determined and keen for success!

2017 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,
DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS
1 Mattias Ekström, Audi S1: 85
2 Johan Kristoffersson, Volkswagen Polo GTI: 69
3 Petter Solberg, Volkswagen Polo GTI: 62
4 Sebastian Loeb, Peugeot 208: 48
5 Timmy Hansen, Peugeot 208: 47

2017 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

TEAMS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS
1 PSRX Volkswagen Sweden: 131
2 EKS: 114
3 Team Peugeot-Hansen: 95
4 Hoonigan Racing Division: 60
5 MJP Racing Team Austria: 59

[Images: FIAWorldRallycross.com / PSRX Volkswagen Sweden]

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After a promising first outing in Barcelona, the PSRX Volkswagen Sweden team had reason to celebrate at the second round of the 2017 FIA World Rallycross Championship, the 22-23 April World RX of Portugal. Johan Kristoffersson took his Polo GTI Supercar to third place in the final in Montalnegre, behind current World RX champion Mattias Ekström and multi-World Rally Champion Sébastien Loeb.

Fastest time
Setting a quick pace from the off, the 570bhp PSRX Volkswagen Sweden Polo GTIs were in fine form, and for the first time, sported different coloured roof panels for ease of being seen more clearly when in the thick of the action: Kristoffersson’s car now has a white panel, while Petter Solberg’s Polo is capped in black. The PSRX Volkswagen Sweden machines were even quick in practice, scoring a Kristoffersson-Solberg 1-2, with Kristofferrson setting a new lap record.

The weekend’s races started well for Kristoffersson, as the Swede recorded the fastest time on day one, and lead the fourth race in the first qualifying session. Ex-World RX champion Solberg finished in second, ahead of Loeb. But in the third qualifying session, while Kristoffersson finished first, he forgot to take his Joker lap, and incurred a 30-second time penalty. However, Solberg set the fastest time during the same session and led the intermediate classifications going into the second day of action with Kristoffersson second overall.

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

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

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

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

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

‘A simple mistake’
Kristoffersson said: ‘Yesterday was about as good as it could get, but in Q3 we missed the Joker and that was really frustrating and maybe that cost me the chance of a better position in the final, but these things can happen. It was a simple mistake, nothing more. In Q4 we lost out because the track wasn’t as dry. In the final, I had a plan to stay behind Petter but unfortunately he had a slow puncture on the left rear and was losing a lot of time.

‘I managed to get past him on lap three which meant I had three laps to drive as fast as I could and I successfully closed on Timmy Hansen. We’ve made some good improvements with the car since Barcelona, especially with the launch and it feels great to give Volkswagen its first podium of the season,’ said the elated Swedish rallycross star.

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

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

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

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

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

Slow puncture
That slow puncture put paid to Solberg’s chances, but the Norwegian still managed a sixth place result: ‘My plan was to get away from the line as quickly as possible. We had the speed all weekend and the plan was for Johan to stay behind me in the beginning of the race. But I picked up a slow puncture on the left-rear and I wanted to get out on the straight to let Johan past me. It came at the worst possible moment; I slowed him down and there was nothing I could do.

‘That’s tough, but these things can happen – punctures are part of our sport. Putting that behind us, I’m so happy with the way things are moving forward with the team and to be leading the championship is fantastic when you consider where we were just before the start of the year! It’s very good for me to have Johan alongside me in the team – he did a great job of safeguarding our position today (Sunday),’ enthused Solberg.

As in Barcelona, EKS’ Mattias Ekström took the overall spoils in Portugal, his second consecutive 2017 victory. He leads Kristoffersson – now in second place – by 14 points. With 42 points, sixth-placed Montalnegre finisher Solberg is two points behind Kristoffersson. PSRX Volkswagen Sweden’s consistent run in Portugal sees the team lead the overall team standings, with a nine-point lead over EKS.

The third round of the 2017 FIA World Rallycross Championship is the World RX of Hockenheim at the Hockenheimring in Germany on 6-7 May, where the rallycross series supports a weekend of German Touring Car (DTM) circuit action.

2017 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS
1 Mattias Ekström, Audi S1: 58
2 Johan Kristoffersson, Volkswagen Polo GTI: 44
3 Petter Solberg, Volkswagen Polo GTI: 42
4 Andreas Bakkerud, Ford Focus RS: 30
5 Timo Scheider, Ford Fiesta RXS: 28

2017 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,

TEAMS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS
1 PSRX Volkswagen Sweden: 86
2 EKS: 77
3 Hoonigan Racing Division: 49
5 Team Peugeot-Hansen: 49
5 MJP Racing Team Austria: 35

[Images: FIAWorldRallycross.com / PSRX Volkswagen Sweden]

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With the launch of the sixth-generation Polo imminent, Volkswagen has announced it plans to start testing the ‘R5’ rally version of its new supermini later this year. Coincidentally, this will most likely in September, around the time the road-going version of car makes its first public appearance at the Frankfurt motor show. The new rally challenger will be eligible for the WRC2 support category of the FIA World Rally Championship.

Four years of dominance
Focusing on customer activities after the withdrawal from top-flight WRC activities after four years of dominance with the Polo R WRC from 2013-2016, the R5 car will be built by Volkswagen Motorsport at its Hanover base. Development of the car is already underway and as well as a four-wheel drive chassis, the jointly-developed VW/Škoda 1.6-litre turbocharged engine from the successful Fabia R5 is expected to appear.

The outfit’s experience of twelve major title wins will also play a vital part in the new Polo R5’s make-up. Development of the 315bhp, four-wheel drive all-conquering Polo R WRC followed a similar path: pre-competition components were tested on a fleet of Škoda Fabia S2000s which contested the 2011 and 2012 World Rally Championships ahead of the Polo R WRC’s debut on the 2013 Monte-Carlo Rally. The current Škoda Fabia R5’s engine pumps out around 280bhp and is being further optimised for the new Polo R5, which will be available to customer teams in 2018, following a summer homologation.

Although the new car will mark Volkswagen’s return to the FIA World Rally Championship, autosport.com has reported that the Polo R5 will not be fielded by a factory team. Škoda enters its Fabia R5 in rounds of the European Rally Championship, as well as the WRC2 support series. Continuing his link with the stillborn 2017 Polo R WRC, Marcus Grönholm will continue to help develop the R5 machine.

‘Tried-and-tested’
With development of the full-fat 2017 Polo R WRC almost complete, the plug was pulled on Volkswagen Motorsport’s official works WRC programme in November, but director Sven Smeets has commented that plans for customer teams to run the 2016 version of the title-winning car are underway: ‘There is customer interest in running the tried-and-tested Polo R WRC at various rallies. Our to-do list is very full,’ he said.

That to-do list includes a focus on the Golf GTI TCR – the touring car version of the legendary hatchback which runs in the International TCR series – as well as supporting global and world rallycross series. The 2017 FIA World Rallycross Championship sees the outfit lend its technical support to Petter Solberg’s PSRX team, which, with the backing of Volkswagen Sweden, is fielding a pair of 570bhp Polo GTI Supercars in the twelve-round series: one each for Solberg himself and 2016 runner-up Johan Kristoffersson.

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‘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

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