Volkswagen to Start Contesting the WRC with the Polo R WRC in 2013

[big_ben17]

im liking this a lot!

[KahviVW]

It's about time!

[TechEd]

Cool, yes. But success here is more about the driver!

As somewhat of an insider in these matters, this is an incredibly ambitious undertaking in an extremely competitive, existing group of mfrs. Citroen & Ford have decades of R&D and solid driver/codriver pairings, so in this regard alone, I'm very, very concerned that VW Motorsport made no driver announcements other than saying a German driver is under consideration (Burkart ...Riedemann??).

While they look cool from a street /tuner perspective, these cars don't drive themselves and are an absolute handful to both pilot and set up for the wide range of conditions encountered around the world. The driver, codriver and lead engineer account for at least 75% of the performance potential here. Normally VW Motorsport and Audi Sport are good at picking their fights, ....that is, fights that they know (not perceive) to have a excellent chance for success, so a lack of driver announcement is really out of character for them.

As it is, right now in the WRC, anyone who is fast enough to consistently put this car on the podium is accounted for. Bringing youngsters up to speed takes years, bit it seems that this will be the initial approach ...I doubt that Carlos Sainz will come out of retirement, for a third time, to take on the current fast crop of Finns and Frenchmen.

Tell me who's driving and then I'll tell you if they have a chance.

[xJOKERx]

awesome!

[Fastvolks]

Can't wait to see this in action, glad VW is going to be back in the game! Started to get boring with just Citroen and Ford.

[chopWet]

Fail. Audi should be VAG's WRC entry.

[YONI RED]

I´ll be waiting in Rally Corona Mexico 2012

[turnbovr6]

Its about time VW started to race and mean it. Tired of Subaru winning all the time. Polo rocks.

[6OlfeR]

Fail. Audi should be VAG's WRC entry.

or audi could join it too. you never know vw could do great or they could just compete. both companies would be cool to see in the wrc

[Fastvolks]

Its about time VW started to race and mean it. Tired of Subaru winning all the time. Polo rocks.

Subaru hasn't been in it for a few years now, Citroen, Ford and now Mini, with mainly Citroen with Loeb driving taking the winnings.

[mecachrome]

Great news can't wait to see them compete, down in the Corona Rally Mexico in 2013.