[WRC] News & Rumours 2021

[pantealex]

Fabrizio Zaldivar in WRC3 2021 with Hyundai i20 R5

all year with R5 or later part with new i20 N Rally2 ?

[dimviii]

Volkswagen Motorsport
@volkswagenms
Pooling strengths for the electric offensive: The Volkswagen Motorsport GmbH workforce will be integrated in Volkswagen AG.

https://twitter.com/volkswagenms/sta...01822448873472

[mknight]

Volkswagen Motorsport
@volkswagenms
Pooling strengths for the electric offensive: The Volkswagen Motorsport GmbH workforce will be integrated in Volkswagen AG.

https://twitter.com/volkswagenms/sta...01822448873472

They announced that Audi will run on next Dakar with electric car just yesterday. Su dunno what this actually means.

[dimviii]

They announced that Audi will run on next Dakar with electric car just yesterday. Su dunno what this actually means.

Dr. Frank Welsch, a member of the Volkswagen Board of Directors, announced the closure of the brand's racing department and the consequent transfer of 169 employees to the manufacturer's facilities in Wolfsburg to dedicate themselves to the development area. He pointed out that the Volkswagen brand as such is heading to become a reference in regards to the electricity market and hence they made the decision to dispense with their sports activities since there are no strengths that adapt to the new business vision.

This move within the Volkswagen Group means the end of the ID.R project, the electric prototype conceived for the 2018 Pikes Peak. Presumably all the technology involved in the car will be transferred to the brand's commercial cars. In the statement it can be read that the supply of spare parts for the Polo GTI R5 and the Golf GTI TCR will be assured in the long term, although the production of the Polo GTI R5 customer sports for rally will end this year. This announcement from Volkswagen was to be expected after the statement issued by Audi Sport yesterday regarding competing in the Dakar and facing the World Endurance Championship with an LMDh.

Last year, Volkswagen Group indicated that its sports division would focus on electric propulsion and months later they confirm that it will disappear, which suggests that the competition area will be defended by Audi, while the position regarding Porsche is awaited. With the closure of Volkswagen Motorsport a vacuum is created in terms of factory support in the categories of rally, rallycross and touring cars, in these cases we would also have to wait for the reactions of those involved in the programs.

In the words of Dr. Frank Welsch:

We have decided to discontinue our own motorsport activities. The deep technical expertise of the employees as well as the knowledge gained from the ID.R project will remain with the company and help us develop more efficient models. My sincere thanks to all employees for the many victories, titles and records around the world and their personal commitment.

https://www.diariomotor.com/competic...e-operaciones/

[pantealex]

They announced that Audi will run on next Dakar with electric car just yesterday. Su dunno what this actually means.

That Audi is not fully electric, it has TFSI petrol engine also.

[Tarmop]

So they worked hard to build a competitive car, found many buyers, many who wanted to buy one and after two years will finish the project and all the developments probably also? This car will soon fall behind.

[Eli]

So they worked hard to build a competitive car, found many buyers, many who wanted to buy one and after two years will finish the project and all the developments probably also? This car will soon fall behind.

Well...what would you say about it when they closed down their WRC operation after spending probably a large sum of development for a WRC car that never saw the light of day....

[the sniper]

VW officially to fully become the soulless white goods division of VW Group. Thanks for the memories of glory days VW, have fun playing the Tesla game...

[Tarmop]

Well...what would you say about it when they closed down their WRC operation after spending probably a large sum of development for a WRC car that never saw the light of day....

If i remember correctly, techincal solutions someway did, in VW WRX outfit.
Anyway, that is their minus, they opted for customer racing and those customers now have still quite new cars, chassis no. 1 being the oldest, dating back to 10.2018... not to be developed any further, opposition on the otherhand...

[Francis44]

Volkswagen Motorsport
@volkswagenms
Pooling strengths for the electric offensive: The Volkswagen Motorsport GmbH workforce will be integrated in Volkswagen AG.

https://twitter.com/volkswagenms/sta...01822448873472

Funny that almost on the same day, Audi announces they are leaving FE and commit to two race series, using combustion engines ( WEC and Dakar).