Volkswagen spent untold sums of money
and expertise into developing a new Polo for the World Rally Championship, only
to pull the plug and shut down the entire operation before it could ever
compete.
The FIA wouldn't even homologate the car for a
privateer team to use in VW's stead. But at least part of it seems to have been
salvaged in the machine you see here. It's called the Polo GTI RX, and it's the
car that multi-champ Petter Solberg will campaign in the World Rallycross
Championship this season.
Where the WRC regulations limit displacement to 1.6 liters
and output to 380 horsepower, the RX machine packs a 2.0-liter turbo good for
570 hp. The result is a 0-62 time 1.9 seconds. No wonder they call them
Supercars.
Geared more for explosive acceleration than
straight-line speed, the 2,866-pound beast will top out no higher than 200 km/h. Fortunately Solberg has the chops to
make the most of it – especially now with the backing of a major manufacturer.
Not only did he win the World Rally Championship in
2003, but he took the first two World Rallycross titles in 2014 and 2015
driving a modified Citroën DS3. He'll be joined by up-and-coming 28-year-old
Swedish ace Johan Kristoffersson, who has already proven himself
multi-talented, winning previous rallycross rounds and titles in Scandinavian
and Italian touring cars.
They'll have to contend with some serious
competition, including similarly prepped versions of the Audi S1, Ford
Focus RS and Fiesta ST, Kia Rio, and Peugeot 208 – driven by talents like
defending champion Mattias Ekström, seven-time rally champ Sébastien Loeb, and
American superstar Ken Block.
