Skip to main content

WRC: Global Stars Ride Shotgun in the Volkswagen Polo R WRC

  • Nyqvist, Casiraghi, Helmer and Co. – stars enjoy taxi rides in the world championship-winning Polo
  • Around the Grand Prix circuit in Monaco: drifting with 318 HP
  • Ogier, Latvala and Mikkelsen are probably the fastest hosts in the world

Wolfsburg. Nobility, sporting personalities, actors and TV presenters – to mark the start of Rally Monte Carlo, top international stars took a seat next to the world rally champions from Volkswagen. Taxi rides around the Grand Prix circuit in Monaco in the Polo R WRC, the world championship-winning car from 2013, 2014 and 2015, gave them an impression of the driving skills of Sébastien Ogier (F), Jari-Matti Latvala (FIN) and Andreas Mikkelsen (N). Among the passengers in the rally Polo: actor Mikael Nyqvist, noted for his performances in many Swedish TV productions, particularly the adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s “Millennium” trilogy; Pierre Casiraghi, seventh in line to the throne of Monaco; former footballer Thomas Helmer, a European Championship winner with Germany in 1996; Danish tennis star Caroline Wozniacki, who topped the world rankings for 67 weeks; European Footballer of the Year 1991, Jean-Pierre Papin, who played for AC Milan, Bayern Munich, Marseille and Bordeaux; Finland’s most-capped footballer, Jari Litmanen; French rugby star Damien Chouly; and Allan McNish, former Formula 1 driver and three-time overall winner of the Le Mans 24-hour race.

“Wow! That was a real adrenalin rush. I did sit next to Pierce Brosnan in a car during filming one time – but Seb really knows what he is doing!”, said Mikael Nyquist after his drive with Sébastien Ogier. Caroline Wozniacki enjoyed a swift city tour with the three-time world champion and added: “I live here in Monaco – and this fast taxi ride was a great new experience for me. I felt really safe sitting next to Sébastien Ogier.”

The ceremonial start for Rally Monte Carlo also welcomed the German TV presenter Kai Pflaume, dancer Katrina Patchett and the world record holder in race walking, Yohann Diniz.

After the VIP taxi rides and the ceremonial start in Monaco in the evening were finished, Rally Monte Carlo also marked the official launch of the 2016 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) season, with 14 rallies on four continents, taking place on ice and snow, asphalt and gravel. Volkswagen is defending all the world championship titles – in the Manufacturer, Driver and Co-Driver categories – for the third time in a row.

The post WRC: Global Stars Ride Shotgun in the Volkswagen Polo R WRC appeared first on VWVortex.



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

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Waterfest Moves to Atco Dragway

Waterfest 24 will be held at Atco Dragway, in Atco, New Jersey. The summer event will take place at its new venue on July 21 and 22. Long held in Englishtown, New Jersey, the festival has been such a large part of the VW scene that the latest iteration of the Golf even comes with optional “Englishtown” wheels . The new venue, however, is an NHRA drag track a scant 52 miles southwest of Englishtown. The ¼ mile drag track opened in 1960, which makes it the oldest drag strip in New Jersey. The announcement came today on a social media post that announced the new location. Waterfest is North America’s largest VW/Audi show. As many 20,000 people show up for the annual show, making the second largest show in the world—with Worthersee being number one. 2018 will be Waterfest’s 24 th year in existence. The post Waterfest Moves to Atco Dragway appeared first on VWVortex . from VWVortex http://ift.tt/2GQjkuc via IFTTT
Post a Comment
Read more

Macau Gets Messy with 16-Car Pileup

The Macau Grand Prix is always good for an accident or two or 16— you may remember Audi’s race ending crash last year —and this year’s event didn’t disappoint. It didn’t take long for things to get messy on the tight road circuit. On the opening lap of the qualifying race a 16-car pileup caused the race to be suspended. Things kicked off when Daniel Juncadella hit a wall on the exit of Police bend, one of the tightest parts of the already tight circuit. The following car of Raffaele Marciello was able to avoid the carnage, but Laurens Vanthoor, who was in the upside-down Audi that ended the race last year, could not avoid Juncadella and together they blocked up the road pretty much completely. “I couldn’t see him [Juncadella] at first. Then I saw the car standing still,” Vanthoor told Motorsport. “I tried to brake but it was just understeering and I couldn’t do anything. There’s room for one car there and you’re blind.” Fourteen more cars would eventually crash into the corner c
Post a Comment
Read more

The First of its Kind: Integrated Engineering Releases Highly-Anticipated IE450T MK6 Golf R Turbo Kit

After two long years of development, the team at Integrated Engineering has finally announced the release of their IE450T kit for the MK6 Golf R. With their turbo kit bolted on right out of the box, the sport AWD hatch is transformed into a 450bhp monster, with hardly any noticeable increase in spool time. In fact, 435 ft-lbs of torque are achieved at all four wheels, at a mere 3300rpm! By now you are probably asking yourself how this is even possible on a 2.0L engine that made nearly half that power from the factory. By employing true twin-scroll technology into the cast turbo manifold and pairing it with a state-of-the-art BorgWarner EFR turbocharger, IE was able to keep spool time at a minimum and bring the fastest-spooling big turbo setup to the market. “We wanted to offer a kit that would dramatically increase the power output without making the car lose its amazing street-friendly drivability,” mentioned one of the IE engineers. We are told the IE450T leaves the car driving jus
Post a Comment
Read more