In 2017, Petter Solberg’s Volkswagen Sweden World Rallycross Championship Team won both the Teams’ Championship overall and Drivers’ Championship with Johan Kristoffersson coming in first place. After a great race season, the team was ready to announce the car in which it will be competing in the 2018 World Rallycross Championship.
The PSRX Volkswagen Sweden team raced a Volkswagen Polo GTI in 2017 and won eight of 12 races. Seven were won by Kristoffersson. In 2018, the car will be rebranded and the team will be racing the Volkswagen Motorsport Polo R. The Polo R features 20 percent new parts including a revised rear wing as well as increased front cooling. Powered by a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine putting out more than 500 horsepower. The car was previously seen in its camo for test sessions driven by both Petter Solberg and Johan Kristoffersson in Belgium and France.
“It feels far too long time since the World RX finale in South Africa last November,” said Kristoffersson. “I have done lots of training —and competed in the World Rally Championship, driving a Skoda Fabia R5 at Rally Sweden—but nothing compares with that feeling of being back in a Volkswagen Polo R Supercar. When we started testing again this year, I was sitting in the car smiling to myself. I’m so excited to be back and to start the defense of my title.”
The Polo R will debut at the first World Rallycross Championship race in April in Barcelona. In the meantime, see the unveiling of the Volkswagen Polo R supercar via Facebook below.