Skip to main content

Volkswagen Motorsport International Newsletter

With Volkswagen participating in so many forms of Motorsport around the world, it’s often difficult to keep track of their performance. Luckily for us, Volkswagen Motorsport goes through the trouble of rounding up all of the key information from their various race series, and puts it all in one press release. Let’s get started.

FIA World Rallycross Championship
fia-worldrx-belgium
Heikkinen wins in Belgium, fourth place for Andersson

Finland’s Toomas “Toopi” Heikkinen won round three of the FIA World Rallycross Championship in Mettet, Belgium. The Polo driver from the Marklund Motorsport team won the final on Sunday afternoon in a time of 4:02.117 minutes, ahead of Petter Solberg, Reinis Nitiss and his team-mate Per-Gunnar “P-G” Andersson (S). Johan Kristoffersson (S) of Volkswagen Team Sweden, who won the season opener in Montalegre (P), reached the semi-final. Kristoffersson’s team-mate Tord Linnerud (N) also went out in the semi-final. Victory in Belgium sees Heikkinen third in the overall standings with 57 points. Team-mate Andersson is currently seventh with 43 points to his name, while Kristoffersson is second on 60 points. The next race will be held in Lydden Hill (GB) this coming weekend.

FIA Formula 3 European Championship
fia-f3-pau
Giovinazzi wins in Pau to extend his overall lead

Sunday was Antonio Giovinazzi’s day. The Italian won the third race of the weekend in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship in Pau (F). The win came after Giovanni had previously finished third in the race two and second in the opening race, meaning he has now finished in a podium position in all nine races so far in this season’s Formula 3 European Championship. Charles Leclerc (Van Amersfoort Racing) also enjoyed a successful weekend “powered by Volkswagen”. The man from Monaco finished runner-up once (race two) and third twice (races one and three). The safety car made an appearance in all three races in Pau’s “concrete jungle” – but this failed to knock Giovinazzi out of his stride as he set about extending his lead in the overall standings. Now with 164 points to his name, Giovinazzi holds a 15-point lead over Leclerc (149). The famous Grand Prix circuit in Monza, Italy, will host the next race weekend from 29 to 31 May.

GTI meeting at Wörthersee
worthersee-2015-gte
Volkswagen presents the Golf GTE Sport, Ogier puts on a show

Those at the 34th GTI meeting at Wörthersee were given a glimpse of the future: On Thursday, Dr. Heinz-Jakob Neußer, Volkswagen Board Member for Technical Development, and Sébastien Ogier presented the latest car trends, including the Golf GTE Sport Concept. World Rally Champion Ogier drove the car, complete with gull-wing doors, onto the stage in front of thrilled fans in Kärnten, Austria. The 400-hp plug-in hybrid drive, a petrol engine and two electric engines, combined with four-wheel drive, allow this concept car to accelerate to a top speed of 280 km/h. Following the presentation, Ogier put on a show in his World Championship winning car for the many fans, laying a few donuts and letting his tyres smoulder. The Frenchman and Sidney Hoffmann, presenter on the TV show “PS-Profis”, then assisted parallel parking world champion Ronny Wechselberger with his spectacular manoeuvres.

South African Rally Championship
secunda-rally-sa
Two podiums for Volkswagen at the “Secunda Motor Rally”

Two Volkswagen duos finished on the podium at the third round of the South African Rally Championship, the “Secunda Motor Rally” in Nelspruit (ZA). On Saturday, Gugulethu Zulu and Hilton Auffrey finished third in the Volkswagen Polo. Henk Lategan and Barry White had previously finished second in the province of Mpumalanga on Friday. Victory on both occasions went to the Ford duo of Mark Cronje/Robin Houghton. The next rally – the “Bela Bela Rally” – will take place in Limpopo (ZA) from 19 to 20 June.

The post Volkswagen Motorsport International Newsletter appeared first on VWVortex.



from VWVortex http://ift.tt/1IJ7tLX
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Watch: The Stig Drives (nearly) Seven Generations of Golf GTI

With Volkswagen announcing “major” updates to the Golf, it seems an appropriate time to look back on what we’ve had so far. And who better to guide us through the rich history of the most popular European car ever made than Ben Collins, the former Stig? Some say he’s never met a GTI he doesn’t love, and that he can’t grow any of his own facial hair. All we know is … Ben Collins is actually a pretty solid presenter. Working his way through seven generations of the GTI (skipping over the Mk6) Collins tells us a little bit about each one and matches each mark to its corresponding facial hair craze. The Mk1 GTI for instance, is light and quick, but can lose traction under hard acceleration (in heavy rain). Despite that, Collins calls the Mk1 a “pure gem.” The Mk4, meanwhile, is a powerful return to form after the perhaps too sensible Mk3. Collins ends in the only way he could, with the Mk7, which accelerates faster than a Lamborghini Countach and is all kinds of wonderful. Watch, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Watch: The Story of the Ads that Made VW Big in America

The ads for the original Beetle are almost as famous and well-loved as the Beetle itself. Looking back now it’s easy to forget, though, just how easily things could have wrong. A new short from Dial M Films tracks the history of those early Volkswagen ads that sold America on the people’s car. The story, of course, begins with the visionary agency that made the ads: Doyle Dane Bernach (DDB). As a popular agency for Jewish products, no agency was more aware of the implications of Volkswagen, and no one, it seems, was more skeptical of the brand than DDB. “Remember Those Great Volkswagen Ads?” from Dial M Films on Vimeo . William Bernbach, though, was adament that the firm take the client, probably as a way of attracting other lucrative automotive clients. Saddled with a client that he didn’t want, art director Helmut Krone says in the film that he originally came up with ads that were all wrong. Krone tried to do what other manufacturers did and was intent on selling the Beetle ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Watch: The Zerouno Cruis’n USA

ItalDesign is drumming up excitement for its new supercar based around the same 5.2-liter Audi V10 that powers the R8. Naturally, it hit the road for a cruise around California last week to celebrate Monterey Car Week. There isn’t much in the way of V10 noise—which is a real shame given the sound it makes—but you do at least get a good look at the car inside and out in this video. With a body made entirely of carbon fiber and designed to be as aerodynamic and light as possible, ItalDesign figures that it will be good for a 0-60 time of just 3.2 seconds. “We put it our best skills into the production of the first car,” said Massimo Bovi, head of pre-series production, when the Zerouno was first unveiled in Geneva earlier this year. “Using some of the finest productions methods and engaging our high-skilled workers.” The car features clever aero tricks gleaned from single-seat racing, like a y-duct up front to improve downforce and turn-in. Available in a number of trim levels, the...
Post a Comment
Read more