Volkswagen has enjoyed an extremely promising start to 2009 on race tracks across the globe, with success in a wide variety of different race formats. From the rugged terrain of Argentina and Chile to the unforgiving ‘Green Hell’ of the Nürburgring in Germany, Volkswagen has battled the elements, and won.
Dakar Rally
Back in January, Volkswagen Motorsport secured a 1-2 finish at the ‘Dakar’ Rally in South America and made history in the process, as the Race Touareg 2 was the first diesel-powered vehicle to win the gruelling event. Giniel de Villers (ZA) and Dirk von Zitzewitz (D) claimed the top step of the podium, while Mark Miller (USA) and Ralph Pitchford (ZA) finished only a short distance behind them in second.
British Formula 3
Making its series debut this year, the Dallara F308 Volkswagen has made a strong start to the British Formula 3 season, scoring an unrivalled three pole positions, three victories and three additional podium finishes from the opening four races.
The season’s first rounds at Oulton Park saw Max Chilton (GBR), driving for Volkswagen partner team Carlin Motorsport, take pole position for the first race of the season. It was Chilton’s team mate Daniel Ricciardo (AUS) who crossed the line first however, taking double victories at Oulton.
Rounds 3 and 4 at Silverstone saw Chilton record two further pole positions and a brace of podium finishes with a 2nd and 3rd place respectively. Volkswagen partner team T-Sport’s Adriano Buzaid (BRA) took the final podium position in Round 3, while Ricciardo secured his third race victory of the season in Round 4, extending his lead at the top of the championship standings to 28 points.
Nürburgring Endurance
Following the international debut of the Scirocco at last year’s Nürburgring 24-hour endurance race, Volkswagen has returned to the track this year in preparation for the 2009 event. At the final test, a Scirocco GT24 and a compressed natural gas (CNG) powered Scirocco GT24-CNG claimed victories in the 2.0-litre turbocharged class and alternative fuels class.
Following this strong performance and with thousands of test miles completed the five teams – consisting of three conventional petrol engine Scirocco GT24s, and two Scirocco GT24-CNGs – will line up on the grid next weekend (23-24 May) for the 37th ADAC Nürburgring 24-Hour Race.