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Ahead of the 2015 Monte Carlo Rally next week, Volkswagen Motorsport pulled the covers off the second-generation Polo R WRC today in Wolfsburg. The car will contest the 2015 World Rally Championship. While full technical details will be released next week, the new 318bhp Polo R WRC has a paddle-operated hydraulically activated gearbox among its technological highlights.

The most striking difference between VW’s new rally weapon and the 2014 car is the external livery. Still keeping the blue and white colours of Volkswagen Motorsport, the new Polo R WRC’s livery also centres on its sponsors.

The dark blue of Red Bull dominates the front end, while paler blue bars fade into a white rear end, visually referencing the outgoing car. A new larger rear wing dominates the area above the rear window. Mysteriously, there are no ‘R’ badges on the car at all.

Volkswagen Motorsport states that around 75 per cent of the components used in the 2014 Polo R WRC have been further optimised for the new car, with the aim of making everything ‘simpler, lighter, and stronger’.

Volkswagen Board Member for Technical Development Dr Heinz-Jakob Neußer said: ‘The new Polo R WRC has undergone intense further development, both on the inside and the outside. Not only does it look even more dynamic and sporty than it did before, but our engineers have also been working meticulously on technical innovations under the bonnet.

‘We have improved many detailed aspects of the package that has been so successful for the past two years. The focus of this further development was on efficiency, reliability and performance.’

World rally champion Sébastien Ogier was excited with his new steed: ‘I am very optimistic that the new car will get off to just as good a start as its predecessor. We have done a lot of testing and we drivers have worked very closely with the engineers. We put a lot of effort into developing the new shift paddle, which represents real progress.’

Volkswagen number two driver Jari-Matti Latvala was equally revved up: ‘The new car feels really good, and we are ready for the new season – at last. We will be using the shift paddle on the steering wheel to change gear this year, and I really like it. On the whole, the new Polo is faster and even better than the 2014 car.’

Ogier and Latvala will line up at the start in Monte Carlo with the new-for-2015 car, while VW’s number three driver Andreas Mikkelsen will field the new and improved Polo R WRC from Rally Portugal, the fourth round of the 2015 World Rally Championship.

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It’s been another busy and exciting year for the Volkswagen Polo. Of course, the big news of 2014 has been the worldwide launch of a comprehensively revised version of the fifth-generation Polo. New engines, safety technology, interior refinements and a gently restyled exterior update it against refreshed competition.

On the asphalt and gravel stages of the World Rally Championship, the Polo has, like 2013, once again come out on top. Taking 12 event wins out of 13, the 300bhp four-wheel drive Polo R WRC has claimed the Manufacturers’ Championship title for Volkswagen Motorsport, and also carried Frenchmen Sébastien Ogier the Julien Ingrassia to their second consecutive Drivers’ Championship prize.

Other Polo-based motorsport series have also continued around the globe, with Wolfsburg’s small car competing as a rally, rallycross and also a track machine. Here, we round up the Polo’s biggest achievements in 2014. (Bold entries are illustrated by the picture above that particular month.)

January

– Refreshed fifth-generation Polo (known as ‘6C’) presented in Wolfsburg
– Polo ends 2013 as the eighth best-selling car in the UK
– 2014-specification Polo R WRC rally car unveiled

– Sébastien Ogier wins 2014 Rallye Monte Carlo with Polo R WRC

– Polo Vivo and is the best-selling car in South Africa for 2013; Polo 6R is runner-up

– Polo is the fifth best-selling car in the UK.

February

– Jari-Matti Latavala takes Polo R WRC to victory in Rally Sweden
– New Polo MY2015 production starts at Volkswagen Navarra factory
– New Polo BlueMotion, BlueGT and CrossPolo revealed ahead of Geneva motor show
– Volkswagen Motorsport signs rallycross partnership with Marklund Motorsport
– Polo is the sixth best-selling car in the UK.

March
– Mathew Hodges and Daniel Rowe take wins at 2014 Engen Volkswagen Cup opener
– Sébastien Ogier wins Rally Mexico, with Jari-Matti Latvala in second place
– Polo hatchback and saloon prices reduced in Brazil
– Volkswagen Sasolracing Polo S2000 triumph at 2014 Tour Natal Rally
– New Polo released for UK ordering – prices and full specifications announced
– Dewald Brummer and Tasmin Pepper take Engen Volkswagen Cup spoils at Killarney
– Polo is the seventh best-selling car in the UK.

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The Polo R WRC may have finished competitive duties for 2014, but a series of promotional activities has ensured Volkswagen’s World Rally Championship-winning car has remained in the public’s consciousness, no doubt increasing the visibility of the VW brand.

‘Wetten, dass..?’ parkhaus challenge
Last weekend, more than nine million viewers of German TV show ‘Wetten, dass..?’ (‘You Bet’) watched the reigning World Rally Champion Sébastien Ogier compete against a climber in a timed ascent and descent of a multi-storey car park or ‘parkhaus’.

TV channel ZDF said goodbye to the long-running programme in some style as Ogier’s 300bhp Polo R WRC blared, slid, and slithered up and down the car park’s damp access ramps and rooftop.

Jakob Vöckler challenged Ogier to the duel, claiming he could climb up and down the exterior of the car park faster than the Frenchman who was driving his rally Polo inside the building.

The climber from Munich was faster in the end, Ogier not quite being able to guide the Polo through the serpentine car park fast enough. ‘Congratulations to Jakob. It was something new driving through a multi-storey car park to win a bet and was enormous fun,’ commented the Volkswagen driver.

Barcelona taxi ride

Ogier has been busy showing of the rally Polo in the mountains above Montserrat in Barcelona, too. Brazilian striker Neymar Jr, of FC Barcelona football club donned VW Motorsport overalls to be co-driver for the French rally driver.

Or at least that was the plan. Ogier’s extreme driving style quickly rendered him useless. Seeing the football player is unable to cope, Ogier instructs him to lose his ‘pace notes’ and ‘Just sit back and enjoy the ride’.

Unashamedly a promotional video for one of Volkwagen’s motorsport partners, Red Bull, it does show the Polo R WRC to dramatic and aggressive effect.

Award ceremonies

The Polo R WRC has also been to International Automobile Federation (FIA) Prize-Giving Gala in Doha where Volkswagen was presented with the trophies for the 2014 Manufacturer, Driver and Co-Driver titles in the FIA World Rally Championship.

The car and Sébastien Ogier were also among the prizewinners at the 2014 Autosport Awards in London. Readers of the UK magazine voted the Polo R WRC the ‘Rally Car of the Year’, while Ogier won the ‘International Rally Driver of the Year’ title.

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Volkswagen Motorsport ended its record-breaking World Rally Championship (WRC) season with a win at Wales Rally GB from 13-16 November. Once again Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia took the spoils, slipping and sliding their Polo R WRC to finish first ahead of Ford’s Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen, and Citroën’s Mads Østberg and Jonas Andersson.

The #2 Polo R WRC of Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila came home eighth, a good result after the pair suffered a number of setbacks in north Wales. The British event proved eventful for Andreas Mikkelsen and Ola Fløene, too. A handful of early stage wins and four second places on day two were offset by crashes on both day one and day three.

Eighth victory for Ogier
Ogier and Ingrassia’s victory was their eighth of the 2014 season, and it added to Volkswagen Motorsport’s record number of victories in one year tally – the German outfit scored a total of 12 (out of 13 events) during 2014. With the World Champion* and Manufacturers’* titles already in the bag, the pressure was off Ogier, but he still drove like it mattered.

Ogier and Ingrassia shot ahead into a commanding lead of over a minute on day one of Wales Rally GB and then paced themselves on the following two days, barely putting a foot wrong. The usual deadly mixture of fog and wet, muddy conditions were omnipresent on the 305.64 kilometres of Welsh forest gravel stages, but Ogier almost literally sailed through it all.

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After his disappointing 13th place at Rally France, Sébastien Ogier was once again celebrating at Rally Spain. Taking a double win, the Frenchman celebrated both event and Drivers’ Championship victories with his co-driver Julien Ingrassia.

Once again, the duo clinched the series win before the end of the season, just as in 2013. The defending champions have driven to 7 victories in the 2014 season, with one round – November’s Wales Rally GB – still to go.

It’s a successful story all round, as Volkswagen Motorsport can celebrate its three drivers – Jari-Matti Latvala and Andreas Mikkelsen are team-mates to Ogier – being the top three drivers in the championship, too.

The 383km Rally Spain (24-26 October) was the eleventh 2014 win for Volkswagen Motorsport and the 23rd of Ogier and Ingrassia’s career. The pair are the only the fourth duo since 1977 to have defended their title successfully and are the eighth twosome to become double world rally champions.

Ogier was more than a little ecstatic: ‘It’s a fantastic feeling to become world champion for a second time! I’m over the moon, it was a real battle to defend the title. In particular, my team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala showed an incredibly strong performance in the last few months.

‘Big thanks to our fantastic team at Volkswagen. Not just for giving us a fantastic car throughout the season. But also for the unique solidarity that we have.

‘It doesn’t matter whether things are going well or badly – the team stands by every driver crew and that is extremely motivating. I’m happy and proud to be part of this team.’

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