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Once again the Irungattukottai Race Track, Chennai hosted the last round of the Volkswagen Polo R Cup India 2011, as the drivers fought for honours over the weekend of 15-16 October. Round 5 saw 21 year-old Rahil Noorani from Mumbai finish first in race one, with Oshan Kothadiya coming in behind just 2.375 seconds after Noorani’s time of 20.46 minutes. Avdumber Hede rounded out the podium 2.477 seconds after Kothadiya. Gaurav Dalal took the chequered flag in the second race in 20.43 minutes, with Vishnu Prasad following 4.907 seconds later. Mihir Dharkar finished third. Vishnu Prasad leads the championship overall, as the series moves to its final round in Noida on 25-27 November, 5 points ahead of Noorani. The series is run by Volkswagen India Motorsport in conjunction with JK Tyres. The field of 20 young racers drive identical and centrally-prepared 129bhp TDI Polo R Cup cars.

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It’s all about rallying Polos this week. Last night, after Volkswagen Motorsport officially released details of the first Polo R WRC test in Veldenz, near Trier, Germany, Rallye-Mad.com posted another video of the premiere run, this time from day two. Another two-minute film, the rally Polo gets really angry, slipping, sliding and handbrake-turning into all sorts of leaf-covered, tree-lined hairpin corners. Once again, 1980s rally legend Carlos Sainz and Dr Ulrich Hackenberg, Member of the Volkswagen Brand Board of Management for the Development Division are the drivers. Sounding as sensationally pent-up as it did yesterday, click here for yesterday’s official preliminary testing details and atmospheric film from Volkswagen Motorsport, and here for the first Rallye-Mad.com video.

[Source: Rallye-Mad.com]

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It wouldn’t have been long before Volkswagen officially released some details about the first test of the Polo R WRC in Germany, and here they are. Complete with a set of pictures and an official beautifully-shot video, rally legend and Dakar winner Carlos Sainz completed the first test in the vineyards of Veldenz, near to the location of the ADAC Rallye Deutschland stages with co-driver Timo Gottschalk alongside. ‘Next year we’ll be running an extensive testing programme on tarmac, gravel, mud and snow in order to prepare ourselves for the 2013 season as best we can,’ explained Volkswagen Motorsport Director Kris Nissen. The full Volkswagen Motorsport press released and images follow.

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We’d heard rumblings (and we bet folk in the vicinity of this forest did, too) that the Polo R WRC had turned a wheel in anger recently, and here’s the proof. Breaking last night and causing a flurry of WRC love on the internet last night, this two-minute video shows Volkswagen’s near-300bhp WRC weapon undergoing its first shakedown test through the German countryside in Veldenz. Tearing through the forest at full chat, the four-wheel drive Polo R WRC sounds sensational, and somehow better than we’d hoped. After what seems like an eternity – but in reality has only been six months – after its reveal at Rally d’Italia Sardegna, the wait has been worthwhile. Roll on 2013!

[Source: Rallye-Mad.com]

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After an unfortunate season, the BP Volkswagen Polo Vivo S2000 South African rally team clinched a podium spot on the last event of the season, the MTN Polokwane Rally (21-23 October). Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries took third place at the event, after two days of tough competition. Reigning champions Enzo Kuun and Guy Hodgson recorded a third place finish overall for the year, meaning their Polo rally car will wear the number three in 2012. ‘We’ve reached a successful end to a very difficult year,’ said Mike Rowe, head of Volkswagen Racing South Africa. ‘We’ve had to stretch the performance of our cars against the newest technology available from Europe, but the team rose to the challenge.’

‘The Junior and Privateer Volkswagen competitors did us proud this season, with Christoff and Celeste Snyders winning the Junior Championship, the Two-Wheel Drive Championship and the S1600 Championship (finishing in 13th place on the Polokwane stages), while Megan Verlaque and Hilton Auffray won the S1400 championship,’ says Rowe. ‘We’re looking forward to a very exciting season in 2012 with a new car in the mix.’ Verlaque and Auffray also took the S1400 class on the Polokwane event. Other Polo finishers included Nicholas Ryan and Armand du Toit in seventh.

The Polos of Giniel de Villiers and Ralph Pitchford, Jan Habig and Robert Paisley, Enzo Kuun and Guy Hodgson, and Gugu Zulu and Carl Peskin did not finish. Overall victors of the Limpopo event were Leeroy Pouter and Elvene Coetzee in their Castrol and Innovation Group-backed Toyota Auris S2000. Finishing second, Team Sasol’s Mark Cronje and Robin Houghton won the 2011 South African Driver’s and Co-Driver’s Rally Championships in their Ford Fiesta S2000 – the first privateers in 45 years to do so. Volkswagen Racing South Africa are thought to be preparing a Polo 6R-based machine for the 2012 championship.

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MTN Polokwane Rally: Kuun/Hodgson

MTN Polokwane Rally: Fekken/Arries

MTN Polokwane Rally: de Villiers/Pitchford

MTN Polokwane Rally: Zulu/Peskin

MTN Polokwane Rally: Verlaque/Auffray

MTN Polokwane Rally: Snyders/Snyders

MTN Polokwane Rally: Ryan/du Toit

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