Volkswagen Polo WRC - a Citroën DS3 killer?
It’s been rumoured for a long time and confirmed for a few months that Volkswagen will enter the WRC with a new Polo WRC in 2013. However, the team plan to make their competitive debut already in Rally Finland in the end of this month – and then compete all remaining rallies this year except for Australia. Already from day one, Volkswagen have sent the signals that this is a serious challenge (nothing else could be expected) and in my opinion this can only be seen as another sign of that, maybe the strongest so far. Considering the price of competing one and a half year in the WRC (I guess that Volkswagen will continue to run even the next season), it shows with clarity that Volkswagen is willing to invest money not only to compete but even to win the WRC.
Of course, winning is not only about the car – but also a lot about the team in terms of personnel, drivers and co-drivers. Petter Solberg is rumoured to be close to signing for the team, but so far Volkswagen seems to be using the excellent strategy of signing young, talented and local drivers – at least if judging from the Rally Finland entry. Andreas Mikkelsen of Norway will be driving one car, and I guess he will be their first driver for the rest of the season and local ace Joonas Lindroos will drive the other car. By signing Mikkelsen they get someone that can act as a young and promising second driver in the works team later on while still being experienced enough to work as a good test driver. In Lindroos they get a local driver in Finland that can contribute with unique knowledge about the local conditions.
It’s quite obvious that Volkswagen will be competing at the highest level of WRC and I expect them to enter the series on a much higher level than any other debutant teams have done in recent years. For Citroën this means a team that can really challenge them for both the drivers and the manufacturers title. It will be interesting to see their next step. Will they fight back and how? (Especially with the possibility/speculations of Loeb ending his career or moving on quite soon…)
