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VW Quits WRC Days After Winning Fourth Straight Championship

The Polo R WRC is set to go the way of the Audi R18 and the dodo as Volkswagen will stop competing in the World Rally Championship at the end of this season.

Autocar reports that at a meeting today Volkswagen decided to end its WRC program on the heels of its fourth Manufacturers’ Championship title in as many years. Employees will be advised of the decision today, and an official statement will come tomorrow.

As for the 2017 Polo R WRC that VW has been working on, “it will be mothballed,” a source tells Autocar.

Volkswagen has, however, promised to keep 200 employees at Volkswagen Motorsport. These will continue work on the Volkswagen Golf TCR as well as other racing programs.

The Golf TCR is a race car intended for touring car racing around the world that VW sells to private racing teams. It shares its DNA (and a whole lot more) with the SEAT Leon Cup Car and the new Audi RS 3 LMS.

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No information has yet been shared about VW’s Rallycross program, which has been wildly successful in America, but less so in Europe.

That said, the decision to kill the WRC team arises from the TDI scandal, following which VW and Audi have expressed an interest in electric racing. With Red Bull Global Rallycross announcing recently that it would start an electric racing program (called for by Volkswagen Motorsport), it seems likely that VW would be eager to invest in a car for the series.

More on Volkswagen Motorsport when it becomes available.

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[source: autocar.co.uk]

The post VW Quits WRC Days After Winning Fourth Straight Championship appeared first on VWVortex.



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