Back in 2016, Volkswagen announced its
retirement from the WRC
after winning multiple drivers' and manufacturers' titles. But now, Volkswagen Motorsport is expanding its involvement in
customer racing
by getting back on the rally scene, not as a race team but as a supplier.
The Polo GTI R5, in development since early this year, is going to be made available to professional teams and drivers to compete in championships ranging from the national series to the pinnacle; the WRC.
Volkswagen Motorsport Director Sven Smeets said, "With the Polo GTI R5 we are hoping to transfer our expertise from four WRC titles to customer racing successfully, and offer a first-class racing machine for countless rally championships from national series to the WRC." The team certainly has the clout behind them to pull it off, with the father of the Polo R WRC, Francois-Xavier Demaison, involved in development of the GTI R5 and Gerard-Jan de Jongh, former race engineer to Sebastien Ogier working as senior project engineer.
The only image we have so far is a sketch, the car based on the sixth generation Polo we are expecting to see go on sale in December. The R5 is fitted with a four-cylinder turbo engine, sequential five-speed racing transmission and, of course, a four-wheel drive system. Here's to seeing the VW badge back on the rally stage again!