Volkswagen Race Polo to race at the Colombo Night Races in Sri Lanka

Automotive updates | Admin | December 13, 2011 at 10:45 am

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Pune, December 12, 2011 – Volkswagen Race Polo has found fans further south and beyond India, in Sri Lanka. December 17, 2011 will witness 11 Race Polo speeding against each other in a Night Street Race in the Srilankan capital city, Colombo. This race is part of the inaugural Colombo Night Races, which is a prelude to the Electric Peacock Festival, Sri Lanka’s first independent international music festival. Seven out of top ten drivers of the Polo R Cup India 2011 season will compete in this special race. Four Srilankan guest drivers will complete the grid of eleven.

The Volkswagen Polo Race will be a support race during the race weekend which features six different races as a part of the competition. The other races will see both cars and motorbikes line up in different categories on a 2 kms circuit that is drawn out from the Colombo streets which are re-laid especially for the event. The race weekend will have two practice sessions and a qualifying session on Friday. The race will take place on Saturday which will cover 10 laps of the circuit under the flood lights.

Expressing his views on the opportunity, Mr. Prithviraj Siddappa, Head of Volkswagen Motorsport India said, “We are thrilled to have this opportunity to race on the streets of Colombo in our first ever night race. This will be very encouraging and a learning experience for our young drivers as this is not a conventional race circuit. They will have to adapt quickly and tweak their racing styles. This exhibition race also means a lot for Volkswagen Motorsport as this proves the popularity of Polo R Cup in India and beyond. Races like these will definitely help us attract more talent for participation in the upcoming season of Polo R Cup.”

Motor sports enthusiasts interested in getting further information can log on to the website, www.polocup.in. This website displays information about Polo R Cup format, race updates and driver profiles. Follow Polo R Cup on www.facebook.com/vwpolocupIndia

About Volkswagen Motorsport

Volkswagen is committed to broad-scale motor sport as in internationally staged cross-country rally racing programmes in countries including Germany, Europe and the United States apart from other countries in Asia and has a long tradition of promoting young talent. Following the legendary Formula V as of 1966 the brand, in 1976, sponsored a one-make touring car cup for the first time. Among others, the Scirocco Cup produced drivers like the subsequent Formula 1 racer Manfred Winkelhock. In 1977 the first-generation Golf GTI replaced the Scirocco as the cup vehicle and remained the popular competition car for a generation of young racers up to 1982. In 1983, the second-generation Polo followed as the cup vehicle – initially using the 88-hp normally aspirated engine version and, from 1986, the 112-hp compressor engine. At the relaunch in 1998, Volkswagen presented the Lupo, which offered top-class sport at fair prices, as well as the Volkswagen New Beetle Cup.

The year of 1998 stands for an all-new concept in the world of racing. To this day, this new concept featuring centrally fielded vehicles and car swapping among the drivers guarantees maximum equality of opportunity. In 2004 the 150-hp Polo replaced the small Lupo as the cup vehicle and the concept was subjected to further refinement. The Polo Cup’s success story is closely linked to the DTM-Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft. The premier league of touring car racing has evolved into a real crowd-puller and is envisaged as a concrete career goal by many junior racers.

The commitment encompasses the internationally renowned Dakar Rally. Diesel and bio natural gas powered as eco-conscious alternatives to conventional spark ignition engines and clever downsizing are the core elements of this strategy. Volkswagen is already in the process of putting the aims of eco-conscious motorsport of the future into action. Bio natural gas engines in the Scirocco R-Cup and at the Nürburgring 24 Hours have already proved that eco-consciousness and top-calibre racing. Volkswagen consistently banks on production-based technology and the conservation of resources. In an overall assessment of racing operations and logistics for the Scirocco R-Cup Volkswagen has achieved a reduction of CO₂ emissions by 80 per cent.

Volkswagen Group India Communications

Contact: Alexander Skibbe / Pradnya Joshi Chaudhury

Phone: +91-9765404647 / +91-9764999349

E-mail: alexander.skibbe@volkswagen.co.in / pradnya.chaudhury@volkswagen.co.in

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