Two-time world rally champ Carlos Sainz has been with Volkswagen Motorsport for a few years now. He won the Dakar Rally with the team in 2010 and has been heavily involved in the development of the new Polo R WRC.
Here’s what he had to say when comparing the early tests with the Touareg and the Polo: “Dakar is very different, but when we started with the Touareg we actually had quite a few little problems and we needed to work hard to find a solution. I wouldn’t say that we were competitive straight away in Dakar.
“Here, from what I can see, it should be different. You never know, but I think that the Polo will be fast from the beginning. My feeling with all the tests was very positive.â€
Based on nothing other than gut feeling, we tend to agree with Sainz’s view. Through their Dakar success, Volkswagen has shown it’s got what it takes to produce race-winning machinery. And while a championship win for Volkswagen in the 2013 WRC may be bordering the realm of fantasy, we expect they might win a race or two.
[Source: wrc.com]