Successful Year for Customer Sport:
Running the Volkswagen Polo, teams Arka Motorsports, Snap Racing and Team Champions gave each other a tough competition in INRC 2. Piloting the Volkswagen Polo, Karna Kadur from Arka Motorsports kept the overall championship gripping till the last round as he competed for the top honours. By the end of the season, Karna secured three wins and five podiums in INRC 2 category for his team, thus taking the INRC 2 title as well. INRC 3 witnessed Volkswagen Polo taking 14 out of 15 possible podium finishes through the year, marking one of the most successful outing for a car in a season.
About Volkswagen Motorsport India’ Customer Sport Programme: Volkswagen Motorsport India’s team extends technical assistance and parts support to all the participating Volkswagen cars during the rounds of INRC. Volkswagen Motorsport India is the only factory team that is supporting privateers with their technical expertise and spares by being present at various rounds of the championship with its rally engineers and technicians. With this programme, Volkswagen Motorsport India is ensuring that smaller teams have access to the technical know-how of the factory team.
Surprise podiums for Volkswagen Motorsport India’s Polo R2 Volkswagen Motorsport India also participated with a factory prepped Polo R2 at three of the five rounds during the season. Vicky Chandhok and co-driver Chandramouli entered the Chennai round, Akbar Ebrahim and co-driver Kumar Ramaswamy drove at the Coimbatore round while Sirish Chandran along with co-driver Aniruddha Rangnekar piloted the Polo R2 at the Kochi round. While Vicky Chandhok and Akbar Ebrahim fetched the Polo R2 third place in their respective entries, Sirish Chandran surprised everyone with a second spot in the INRC 1 category in Kochi. Three entries and three podium finishes were a real surprise as all three drivers were rallying after a long break from competitive driving. The results highlighted the potential of the Volkswagen Polo R2 car with solid performance, spot-on handling and unbeatable reliability.
About Volkswagen Polo R2: Volkswagen India Motorsport team is building rally-spec cars that can be bought by customers and teams competing in different categories of rally championships. Through this programme, the Motorsport team aims at providing top-spec cars that have the potential to win. As a part of this programme, the team has built a rally-spec Polo R2 and put to test in the INRC during three rounds of 2018 season and bagging a podium finish each time.
Mr. Sirish Vissa, Head of Volkswagen Motorsport India said, “2018 has been a brilliant year for us. I am extremely happy to see the Polo being successful across categories, especially bagging the INRC 2 and INRC 3 titles. There was a lot of learning for the teams and the drivers through the year, including for us at the factory. Our Polo R2 ran superbly and grabbed podium in each of its entry and that speaks volumes of its potential.” He further added, “We are now all set to build rally cars for our customers across INRC 1, INRC 2 and INRC 3 category and deliver them before the start of the season.”
Interested customers who want to build rally spec cars for competitive use can contact Volkswagen Motorsport India atmotorsport@volkswagen.co.in About Volkswagen Motorsport India:
Taking ahead 50 years of enriching global motorsport legacy of
Volkswagen, Volkswagen Motorsport India commenced operations with the Polo Cup India in 2010. The vast global expertise, coupled with rich dynamic history of the Group has enabled Volkswagen Motorsport India to progress swiftly and become the best one make series in a short span of time. The Volkswagen Polo R Cup enhanced awareness as well as underlined the technological advancement of Volkswagen in India.
In 2015, Volkswagen Motorsport India shifted to Vento Cup and continued to provide a vital platform for the talented young racers to demonstrate their capabilities nationally and internationally by nurturing them. In the one-make series, all participating cars are technically identical with the same performance making it possible for only the most skilled drivers to leave an impact.
Since 2017, Volkswagen Motorsport India has been running the Ameo Cup in the same format. Successes in Indian Rallying: Under the Customer Sport Initiative, Volkswagen Motorsport India started providing teams and individuals running Volkswagen Polo rally cars in the Indian Rally Championship (IRC) with technical assistance and spares from 2013. The Volkswagen Polo won the 2013 and 2014 titles in the 1600-cc class.
