24-hour race Nürburgring
Tight testing programme for Golf24Volkswagen Motorsport continued preparing for the 24-hour race by running a three-day test at the Nürburgring-Nordschleife. The main focus was placed on the suspension set-up of the new 440-hp Golf plus tests of various components.
Peter Terting and Nicki Thiim took turns at the wheel of the brand new four-wheel drive vehicle. The factory team continued its testing programme for another three days at Portimão, Portugal, immediately afterwards.
These tests were focused on endurance runs. Before the legendary 24-hour race in the Eifel region (23-26 June) the spectacular Golf24 will be subjected to tests in competitive conditions at several rounds of the Endurance Championship Nürburgring.
Formula 3 Euro Series
Marco Wittmann finishes season opener as best Volkswagen driverThe German Marco Wittmann secured two podium positions at the season opener of the Formula 3 Euro Series at Le Castellet (France).
The driver from the Signature team clinched fifth, second and third place at the three rounds. The eight drivers ‘powered by Volkswagen’ of the Signature and Motopark Academy teams were struggling with degrading tyres at the first out of a total of nine race weekends.
Wittmann’s Signature team mate Laurens Vanthoor (Belgium) achieved his best result when he finished the third race in fifth place. The best results for the Motopark Academy team were clinched by the rookies Jimmy Eriksson (Sweden) and Kimiya Sato (Japan) who took sixth places, respectively.
Volkswagen Polo Cup South Africa
Successes for Kosie Weyers and Devin RobertsonDevin Robertson has extended his lead in the Volkswagen Polo Cup South Africa at rounds three and four of the season held at Killarney near Cape Town. The 2010 ‘vice champion’ only finished the first race in fourth place behind Kosie Weyers, Kyle Barnes and Bryan Morgan.
In the second round, however, Robertson clinched a commanding victory, beating Kosie Weyers and Brett Roach to the chequered flag. On 30 April the 18-year-old will travel to the next event at Port Elizabeth with a 19-point advantage.
Formula Volkswagen South Africa
Jayde Kruger takes lead of the standingsJayde Kruger and Robert Wolk are the two winners of the third and fourth rounds of the Formula Volkswagen South Africa season that was staged at Killarney. Whereas Kruger in the first race prevailed against Tasmin Pepper and Daniel Rowe with a lead of over five seconds, the decision in the second round was extremely tight.
Robert Wolk crossed the finish line just 0.204 seconds earlier than Jayde Kruger. Third place went to Tasmin Pepper. After four races 23-year-old Jayde Kruger has a lead of eight points over Robert Wolk.
South African Rally Championship
Volkswagen driver Jan Habig misses victory by 8.2 secondsA thrilling season opener in the South African Rally Championship: At the Natal Rally near Durban Volkswagen driver Jan Habig together with his co-driver Robert Paisley was battling for victory up until the very end.
After 14 special stages on gravel, covering a distance of 155 kilometres, the South African duo in the Volkswagen Polo S2000 had to admit defeat to Conrad Rautenbach/Nicolas Klinger in the Ford Fiesta with a gap of just 8.2 seconds. Other Volkswagen drivers, Enzo Kuun/Guy Hodgson, Hergen Fekken/Pierre Arries and Nicholas Ryan/Geoff Tyrer, finished the event in third, fourth and sixth place.
Coming up next …
8 April Volkswagen Endurance Cup, Zandvoort (NL), round 0115-16 April South African Rally Championship, Sasol Rallye (ZA)15-17 April British Formula 3 Championship, Monza (I), round 01
