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After a strong start last month at the opening round in Portugal, Volkswagen RX Sweden drivers Johan Kristoffersson and Anton Marklund were out of luck at the World RX of Hockenheim, the second round of the 2016 FIA World Rallycross Championship. Kristoffersson made the second semi-final and finished seventh overall at the event on 6-8 May, while Marklund was 15th.

Best results
Kristoffersson again showed the potential of the 600bhp Polo RX, the Swedish driver achieving the best results in the qualifying races, resulting in pole position in the second semi-final. The Volkswagen RX Sweden driver was second at the end of the first day of action at the iconic Formula 1 circuit. He also pulled off a killer move in the second round of qualifying by turning a spin into a leading move, soaring past other cars into the lead.

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Hockenheim: Kristoffersson

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Hockenheim: Kristoffersson

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Hockenheim: Kristoffersson

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Hockenheim: Kristoffersson

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Hockenheim: Kristoffersson

In that second semi-final, Kristoffersson’s Bauhaus-livered Polo got struck by championship leader Petter Solberg, though, which resulted in tyre and bodywork damage. However, the young Swede was still keen to put on a show for the assembled spectators at the 1.24km-long German track – which was also host to a round of the DTM the same weekend – and managed to retain the lead until the end of the fifth lap. He missed out on making the final by just one place, finishing fourth.

Poor grid position
Anton Marklund meanwhile was hampered by a poor grid position in Q1 and traffic in the majority of his races. Additionally, an incident with another car in Q1 made Marklund’s task even harder and he was forced to run in early qualifying races throughout the weekend, when the track was at its slowest. He was unable to fufill his potential and missed out on a place in the semi-finals.

EKS’ Mattias Ekström in his Audi S1 was the victor at the popular German circuit. In the overall drivers’ points table, Kristoffersson is now fourth with 39 points, while Marklund is 14th with nine points.Volkswagen RX Sweden remain second with 48 points in the team standings. The next round of the series – the World RX of Belgium – takes place on 13-15 May at Mettet in Belgium.

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Hockenheim: Marklund

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Hockenheim: Kristoffersson

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Hockenheim: Kristoffersson

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Hockenheim: Marklund

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Hockenheim: Kristoffersson

2016 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,
DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS
1 Petter Solberg, Citroën DS3: 48
2 Mattias Ekström, Audi S1: 48
3 Toomas Heikkinen, Audi S1: 45
4 Johan Kristoffersson, Volkswagen Polo: 39
5 Robin Larsson, Audi A1: 34

2016 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,
TEAMS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS
1 EKS: 93
2 Volkswagen RX Sweden: 48
3 Hoonigan Racing Division: 40
4 Team Peugeot Hansen: 39
5 Ford Olsbergs MSE: 26

[Images: FIAWorldRallycross.com]

The 2016 FIA World Rallycross Championship kicked off on 16-17 April with the first round of the 2016 series, the World RX of Portugal. Volkswagen RX Sweden driver Johan Kristoffersson found himself in third place in the overall drivers’ championship by the end of the – very muddy – action at Montalegre. Victory at the Portuguese 1.52km circuit went to former WRC ace Petter Solberg.

Sixth place
However, qualifying heats round one (Q1) winner Kristoffersson was awarded the Monster Energy Super Charge Award, after beating his competitors to the first corner of one of the semi-final races. The Swede ended the event in overall sixth place, but points amassed through setting fastest times in both the qualifying heats and one semi-final saw him higher in the overall standings.

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Portugal: Kristoffersson

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Portugal: Kristoffersson

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Portugal: Kristoffersson

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Portugal: Kristoffersson

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Portugal: Kristoffersson

Kristoffersson failed to match his 2015 World RX of Portugal win following an on-track collision with Solberg when the current World Rallycross champion exited his joker lap. The smash broke one of the Swedish driver’s driveshafts on his Polo RX Supercar.

For the 2016 series, the four timed qualifying rounds previously known as heats – which determine each driver’s position at the intermediate classification – are now called Qualifying. This is to fall in line with other World Championships run by the FIA. The four rounds will be called Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4 for 2016.

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Portugal: Kristoffersson

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Portugal: Kristoffersson

2016 World RX of Portugal

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Portugal: Marklund

2016 Volkswagen Polo RX, World RX of Portugal: Kristoffersson

Polo RX potential shown
Kristoffersson’s Volkswagen RX Sweden team-mate Anton Maryland took his 600bhp Polo RX through to one of the semi-final races but failed to qualify to the last race itself. However, with both drivers scoring highly, the potential of the latest 1.9-seconds-to-62mph Polo RX was shown in Montalegre. Volkswagen RX Sweden is currently second in the teams’ championship overall standings.

The next round of the 2016 FIA World Rallycross Championship is the World RX of Hockenheim, which takes place on 6-8 May at the legendary F1 circuit.

2016 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,
DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS
1 Petter Solberg, Citröen DS3: 29
2 Robin Larsson, Audi A1: 21
3 Johan Kristoffersson, Volkswagen Polo: 21
4 Toomas Heikkinen, Audi S1: 20
5 Andreas Bakkerud, Ford Focus RS: 20

2016 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP,
TEAMS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS
1 EKS: 39
2 Volkswagen RX Sweden: 28
3 Team Peugeot Hansen: 26
4 Hoonigan Racing Division: 20
5 Ford Olsbergs MSE: 12

[Images: FIAWorldRallycross.com]

It’s not only the World Rally Championship that sees mega-power Polos take to gravel tracks around the word. In case it has escaped your notice, rallycross has been back in a globally big way over the past three years and Volkswagen’s small hatchback also competes this this FIA-regulated championship, too – and the Polo RXs have twice as much power as their Polo R WRC counterparts.

Twelve-round championship
Announced at the start of the year, the Volkswagen RX Sweden team will campaign the ‘official’ Polo RX cars in the twelve-round 2016 FIA World Rallycross Championship (those ‘cross’ / ‘RX’ words and letters are important) with Johan Kristoffersson and Anton Marklund as its young-gun principal drivers.

These two have form – Kristoffersson won the World RX of Portugal last year, while Maryland raced a Polo RX before switching to an Audi S3 RX. Oh, and his father, Jan Marklund ran Marklund Motorsport, a kind of satellite team of Volkswagen Motorsport which has contested the rallycross championship with Polo RXs for the past three years. The new team itself is a merger of Kristoffersson Motorsport and Marklund Motorsport.

Blue, cyan and white livery
The new 2016 Volkswagen RX Sweden Polo RX Supercar was unveiled recently and its livery now bears comparison with that of the Polo R WRCs prepared in Hannover – dark blue is the dominant colour, while the white rear half and cyan streaks bring to mind the German-prepared Polo rally machine, too. Volkswagen RX Sweden also cites the Swedish flag and sponsor colours as inspiration.

Volkswagen RX Sweden by team manager Michael Schneider is aiming high with his new team and his new 600bhp Polo RX: ‘It is with great pleasure that we present our car for 2016. Our competitors have not been standing still in progress and they continue to develop their cars – but so do we.

2016 Volkswagen RX Sweden Polo RX Supercar

2016 Volkswagen RX Sweden Polo RX Supercar

‘The best of both concepts’
‘We have spent a lot of time to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of last year’s cars from Marklund Motorsport and Kristoffersson Motorsport, and we have tried to combine the best of both concepts in the new car. The whole team has worked hard and I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved who has contributed to the construction of this car. We all have the same goal and we are willing to do our utmost to achieve it.’

Kristoffersson can’t wait to get started: ‘The new car looks absolutely stunning and I feel proud to see my name on it. I look forward to the start of the season, but for now the focus is on pre-season tests in order to get as much out of the cars as possible. I’ve driven six rallies during the winter, which has helped me find a focus, develop and find new ideas for the Rallycross Championship.’

‘Simple, sleek and aggressive’
Marklund meanwhile is pleased with both the team’s and the car’s progress: ‘The car is really good, the team has put a great job on every single detail and it has a look I really like. It is simple, sleek and aggressive at the same time. I’ve known Johan (Kristoffersson) from the rallycross championship and he is a fun and relaxed guy. Our different experiences of life and the racing will help the team moving forward.’

The Volkswagen RX Sweden team has worked hard over the winter at its base in Boliden to ensure that the Polo RX Supercar’s performance lives up to its new look, and to also be ideally prepared for the first round of the season in Portugal which runs from 16-17 April at Montalegre. The Polo RXs have always been strong performers on the World Rallycross Championship stage. Now, with official backing, that performance could be about to gain some extra muscle…

Polo-based rallycross teams Marklund Motorsport and Volkswagen Team Sweden have joined forces to contest the 2016 FIA World Rallycross Championship, using their star drivers to guarantee success. The newly-formed Volkswagen RX Sweden team will field Anton Maryland and Johan Kristoffersson to pilot a pair of 600bhp Polo RX Supercars.

Championship-winning potential
It’s a return of sorts to Marklund Motorsport for Marklund, who contested the 2014 series under the wing of his father’s team – the outfit finished second in both the drivers’ and teams’ points tables the same year. Kristoffersson meanwhile shows championship-winning potential, coming third in the 2015 drivers’ championship standings.

Bosses of the new team, Jan Marklund and Tommy Kristoffersson, back the new collaboration. ‘We already discussed a merger last year, but we never got around to it,’ explained Marklund, father of Anton. ‘Now we will be added to the mix of Volkswagen’s official involvement and our joint goal for 2016 is very clear.’

‘Long-term involvement’
Kristoffersson senior – father of Johan – will be the general manager of the new team and Michael Schneider has been appointed team manager after having performed the same role at Marklund Motorsport last year: ‘Pooling our resources enables us to provide the stable platform of infrastructure and competence that is required for professional, long-term involvement.’

Jost Capito, Technical Director at Volkswagen Motorsport explained the process behind the teams joining together: ‘Volkswagen Motorsport is positive about the merger that came about as a result of the team’s initiative. A collaboration between Marklund Motorsport and Volkswagen Team Sweden will strengthen VW’s position in one of the fastest growing areas of motorsport. Combining our capabilities will create good possibilities for further success in the sport.’

‘Fighting for the championship’
Sten Forsberg, Head of Volkswagen Sweden, also welcomed the merger. ‘The competitive situation in World RX calls for creative solutions to achieve success for both Marklund Motorsport and Volkswagen Team Sweden, which we as collaborative partners strive for. With our joint effort, we are convinced that the team will be able to keep up with the pack and be fighting for the championship,’ he said.

Volkswagen RX Sweden’s new Polo RX Supercars will be built at Marklund Motorsport’s premises in Boliden, but as the season gets closer, the work will be relocated to Arvika, where Volkswagen Team Sweden is based. A separate test unit with a racing car, staff and trailer will manage the new team’s development activities.

The first round of the 2016 FIA World Rally Championship is the World RX of Portugal on 15-17 April in Montalegre.