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2017 VW Polo R WRC Revealed in the Form of a Design Sketch

Volkswagen Motorsport has released fresh information regarding their race car for the 2017 WRC season.
2017 Volkswagen Polo R WRC 1 photo
Photo: Volkswagen
The Motorsport department of the Wolfsburg brand has published a sketch of the upcoming 2017 Polo R WRC. According to FIA regulations, the new Polo R WRC will be roughly 60 HP more powerful, being expected to deliver around 380 HP.

Thanks to more lax rules regarding aerodynamic features, the new Polo R WRC will have more tweaks to improve downforce.

As you can observe in the sketch, the Polo R WRC will have an aggressive look, and Volkswagen says it will be lighter and wider than the current model.

Design work for this vehicle has begun in the summer of 2015, just after the International Automobile Federation published the norms for the 2017 season of the World Rally Championship.

However, the final look of the racecar will be shown at the first stage of the 2017 season. The first appearance of the 2017 Polo R WRC will be in next year’s Monte Carlo Rally.

Jost Capito, Volkswagen Motorsport Director, has stated that the regulations for the 2017 season will allow “many spectacular technical innovations,” so the car should be significantly faster than the current model.

The performance improvement of the 1.6-liter turbocharged engine will be achieved by increasing the width of the air restrictor by three millimeters (0.11 inches), from 33 mm (1.29 inches) to 36 mm (1.4 inches). The rules also allow teams to use the electronic center differential for the power transmission, ensuring a more dynamic behavior.

Also in the FIA rules, the minimum length of the car will be 3,900 millimeters (153 inches), while minimum weight will be 1,175 kilograms (2,590 lbs) instead of 1,200 (2,645 pounds), hence the 25 kg difference.

Naturally, the car will be safer, to protect the crews in case things go wrong on the stages and if they crash. Volkswagen hopes the new Polo R WRC will be as successful as its two predecessors, which have won last year’s title and are topping the classifications this year with three out of three wins.
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About the author: Sebastian Toma
Sebastian Toma profile photo

Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland.
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