Although it has only been the first outing for the all-new Volkswagen Polo R WRC, all eyes and attention are now glued to them as this new rally machine manages to secure an impressive second place at the opening round of the 2013 FIA World Rally Championship at Monte Carlo.
We have just heard that the legendary MINI is pulling out of WRC by the end of the 2012 season, but it looks like they are not the only ones doing so. Just shortly after MINI’s withdrawal, rally veteran Ford is the next one to follow suit in leaving this dirt-kicking motorsport.
The MINI has a strong heritage in rallying back in the 60’s, and the presence of this pocket rocket back in those days were never underestimated as they had a number of great wins under their belt which includes winning the Monte Carlo Rally in 1964, 1965 and 1967. So when MINI made a return to the rallying world in 2011, a lot hailed the return of a great legend in which unfortunately, did not last that long.
The Proton Satria Neo S2000 had again proved its worthiness as a great rallying machine by grabbing the podium spot in the FIA Super 2000 World Rally Championship (SWRC) at last week’s Rallye de France. To date, this is PROTON Motorsports’ fifth successive podium finish for the SWRC, with the Swedish driver Per Gunnar Andersson soldiered through the 404.14km race and finishing in third.
Back in 1998, Hyundai started their rally career by entering the World Rally Championship as a contender in the F2 class. And although along the years of being able to secure top-ten positions with the Accent WRC rally machine, they were still miles away from posing a serious challenge to the big teams like Ford and Peugeot. Coupled up with some budget constraints, Hyundai announced their withdrawal from WRC in September 2003. But they are now back to kick up some dust with their all-new rally machine, the i20.
Since their last appearance back in 1999, Toyota had long left the harsh, gravelly roads of WRC and shifted their focus to this high-speed world of Formula 1. But after all those years hibernating, they are now ready to make a comeback by taking one step at a time through entering the Yaris R1A racer at the ninth round of the WRC.
Debuting at the Rallye Deutschland this coming August 24th to the 26th, the Yaris will assume responsibility as the “Zero Car” or “pace car” for the event, running through the course at almost full speed to confirm the roads are in a safe condition and also to announce the start of each stage. The Yaris “Zero Car” will be piloted by former TMG works driver in the German Rally Championship, Isolde Holderied with Herbie Hossbach as co-driver.
Red bull is striving strong in the extreme sports category, and they are about to add another one into their broad list of motorsports besides of already having a strong ground in Formula 1 and the Rally Cross in the X Games. If things would go smoothly in the transition of power, Red Bull might just be taking over the sponsorship of the World Rally Championship (WRC) anywhere in the near future.
The Proton Satria Neo S2000 will be headed for the FIA Super 2000 World Rally Championship in Finland’s Neste Oils Rally this weekend – an event that’s been historically seen dominated by Nordic drivers in the WRC.
The Satria Neo S2000 has already undergone extensive tests ahead of Rally Finland with PG Andersson (SWE) and Juha Salo (FIN) at the helm ready to do battle around the blindingly fast course and will pose a real challenge for their new specifications coming from the slower and twistier course of the Malaysian Rally round – a complete opposite of what they will face. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s not unusual to find fins and a sick looking rear spoiler to keep a car planted, but it seems quite difficult to keep this particular VW planted on the ground that’s headed for contention in next year’s World Rally Championship, propelled by a 300bhp V2 Rocket 1.6L STI engine, the Polo R WRC is nothing short of a high-flier.
The raw-looking, wider and lighter Polo R WRC showcases some of its jumping abilities thanks to the likes of Sebastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia being at the helm as they take it out along a familiar Finnish rally stage putting ‘fun’ and ‘mental’ into fundamental when throwing the Polo R WRC through its paces.
As usual with most new entrants into the world of motorsports, it will take Volkswagen Motorsport to find their winning ways, but we reckon it’ll be soon enough with this sort of flight preps, but only time will tell and admittedly – we certainly find it hard to wait any longer to watch the Polo R WRC officiate its first flight race.
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| The Following 4 Users Liked Jay For This Useful Post: |
 07-03-2012, 10:04 PM |
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200bhp Stage II Member
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 Re: Volkswagen Polo R WRC – Cleared for Take-offs and Landings.are these real……the tyre like been glue to the road…..
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| The Following User Likes AvanT For This Useful Post: |
gonth (07-04-2012)
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| 07-04-2012, 12:06 AM |
#7 |
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Senior Member
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Re: Volkswagen Polo R WRC – Cleared for Take-offs and Landings. not GAB SS Series?
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| 07-04-2012, 09:24 AM |
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Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2006
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Re: Volkswagen Polo R WRC – Cleared for Take-offs and Landings. Quote:
No bro..its from HA siries i guess |
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| 07-04-2012, 09:45 AM |
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Re: Volkswagen Polo R WRC – Cleared for Take-offs and Landings. No lah it’s running Tituan suspension and Uber Lacing stress bar….
Dont play play, they provide Factory team support. Interesting to hear Sachs involvement in rallying considering they are better known for their involvement with the Porsche GT3 Cup cars, RSRs etc…. |
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Remember F1 Driver Robert Kubica? Well here’s a recap: The Polish driver was severely injured during a rally in Italy when one Robert Kubica crashed his Skoda Fabia S2000 into a guard-rail that impaled the car by breaching into the cabin via the front, consequently almost severing the Polish driver’s right arm.
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