PoloDriver

In a somewhat surprise announcement, ex-World Rally Championship winner Carlos Sainz will drive a 600bhp Polo R Supercar at the X Games in Barcelona this weekend. To be held at the Olympic Stadium in the Spanish city, Sainz’s car will be prepared by Marklund Motorsport, which also runs Anton Marklund’s car in the European RallycrossRX championship. ‘I tested the car at Montalegre in Portugal after the last race of the European Rallycross Championship. We talked about making changes but I hadn’t decided to race at that stage. Now, I am, and I will test it again to achieve a good set-up,’ Sainz said.

That set-up will be good, too, as the 51 year-old Spaniard played an important part in the development of the official Volkswagen Motorsport Polo R WRC car, which has seen great success in the 2013 FIA World Rally Championship. The X Games features athletes competing in BMX, skateboarding, rallycross and motocross disciplines, to decide who wins the 17 gold medals up for grabs. Broadcast on worldwide TV channels, the X Games Barcelona is the fourth stop on the 2013 X Games global city tour.

UPDATE, 20 May 2013: Unfortunately, due to heavy rain and resulting adverse course conditions, the rallycross competition at X Games Barcelona was cancelled. There is no word on a rescheduled date for the races.

Now in its fourth year in production, the fifth-generation remains popular with new car buyers in the UK, staying in the top 10 best-selling cars chart during April. An ever-consistent seventh place is its reward for last month’s sales of 3630 units, while so far this year, 15,383 units of the small Volkswagen have found homes in the UK. While that’s still short of the 42,392 Ford Fiestas sold, the evergreen Polo is still the second best-selling Volkswagen in the UK, and it’s also ahead of newer competition such as the Peugeot 208.

UK new car registrations rose 14.8 per cent in April to 163,357 units, the best April performance since 2008. There has been an increased demand for small cars among private buyers, while the supermini segment remains the largest market segment. Registrations over the first four months of 2013 increased 8.9 per cent to 768,555 units. Petrol-fuelled cars have seen their market share climb. The UK’s top 10 best-selling cars during April 2013 and the year-to-date (sales figure and position in brackets) are as follows:

1 Ford Fiesta: 8083 (42,392, 1st)

2 Vauxhall Corsa: 6084 (30,645, 3rd)

3 Ford Focus: 5944 (31,205, 2nd)

4 Volkswagen Golf: 5283 (21,009, 5th)

5 Vauxhall Astra: 4244 (21,446, 4th)

6 Nissan Qashqai: 3761 (18,362, 6th)

7 Volkswagen Polo: 3630 (15,383, 7th)

8 Fiat 500: 3037 (12,654, 10th)

9 Peugeot 208: 2975 (14,083, 8th)

10 Audi A3: 2935


(The 2013 top 10 best-selling car absent from last month’s sales figures is the Nissan Juke in 10th place with 12,788 units sold.)

The Polo Vivo maintained its long-standing reign at the top of the South African new passenger car sales market last month. The best-selling car in the country for April, the Polo Vivo sold 2762 units, followed, once again, by the fifth-generation Polo, of which 2160 found homes last month. The performance by the popular models contributed to the strengthening of Volkswagen Group South Africa’s leadership position in the country’s car market last month with sales of 8463 units and a market share of 24.6 per cent.

The Polo Vivo was launched in March 2010 as an entry-level model for the South African market, replacing the Series 1 Golf-based CitiGolf, and is available as a three or five-door hatchback and four-door booted saloon with 74bhp/84bhp 1.4-litre and 104bhp 1.6-litre petrol engines. Costing from R111,900 for the base-model 1.4 hatchback to R161,100 for the top 1.6 Polo Maxx, the 2013 Polo Vivo is based on the revised version of the Series 4 Polo (9N3), built from 2005 to 2009. The fifth-generation Polo (6R) is available as both a three and five-door hatchback, in addition to the four-door Polo Sedan.

Over the weekend of 4-5 May, Mark Silverwood took the spoils at round four of the Engen Volkswagen Cup at Zwartkops Raceway, Pretoria. Recent work carried out to the circuit’s surface meant that handling characteristics of the Polo Vivo race cars were altered, but it didn’t stop Silverwood taking Bryan Morgan’s pole position from him in the first corner of race one. Morgan fought back however, but had to succumb to Silverwood’s repeated attacks on his leading position. Dewald Brummer claimed third place, after a tense championship battle with Kosie Weyers. The first part of race two was a re-run of race one, with Silverwood scalping Morgan, but Weyers also pushed past the leader, sending Morgan down to third.

The 2013 Engen Volkswagen Cup series is similar to the other racing Volkswagen Polo Cup single-series championships run in China, Europe and India. Just as in those official Volkswagen series, the South African one-make format highlights new driving talent. In the Engen series, as many as 35 drivers regularly race in technically identical, 2.0-litre 234bhp Volkswagen Polo Vivo racing cars. For 2013, the Engen Volkswagen Cup cars are powered by the new Engen Primax fuel. The field will head to the Grand Prix Circuit, East London for round five of the 2013 championship on 15 June.

RACE RESULTS
Race 1
1 Mark Silverwood (32: OKI Printing Solutions)
2 Bryan Morgan (41: Great Accounts/Great Soft)
3 Dewald Brummer (22: UMP/Horne Hydraulics/MAD Racing)

Race 2
1 Mark Silverwood (32: OKI Printing Solutions)
2 Kosie Weyers (5: Engen Primax)
3 Bryan Morgan (41: Great Accounts/Great Soft)

Overall standings
1 Mark Silverwood (32: OKI Printing Solutions)
2 Bryan Morgan (41: Great Accounts/Great Soft)
3 Kosie Weyers (5: Engen Primax)

Masters
1 Ettiene du Toit (M4: Zenith Product Design)
2 Juan Gerber (M8: Carfind.co.za)
3 Eddie Rodrigues (M7: SEW Eurodrive)

Today, as rumoured last week, Volkswagen India launched the most powerful Polo yet in the country, the GT TSI. Combining the 1.2-litre 77Kw (104bhp) TSI engine widely available in Europe with a seven-speed DSG gearbox, the Polo GT TSI offers ‘maximum power and minimum consumption’, and is priced at Rs 7.99 lakhs ex-showroom, Delhi. Mechanically the same as the UK’s Polo SEL with the same engine, the Polo GT TSI develops 175Nm (129lb ft) of torque between 1500-4100rpm.

Although looking little different to the standard car on which it’s based, the Polo GT TSI’s visual nuances are there if you look hard enough. ‘Estrada’ 15-inch alloy wheels with 185/60 R15 tyres, black headlamps, a chrome ‘GT’ grille badge, and ‘GT TSI’ kickplates hint at the car’s sporty nature. Inside, there’s ‘Milan’ upholstery, a leather-trimmed multifunction steering wheel, aluminium pedals, ‘Climatronic’ automatic air-conditioning, and RCD 320 music system with USB/SD/Bluetooth/Aux-in and four speakers. Exterior colours are limited to three: Candy White, Flash Red, and Deep Black.