Volkswagen to Compete in WRC Next Year?

Volkswagen's introduction to the WRC was with some privateer drivers that drove the Beetle between 1950 and 1960. The results were not that bad. Then the Golf appeared and it was back in 1986, the Swedish driver Kenneth Eriksson won the Group A Championship with a Volkswagen Golf. After Group A started to be the main category for WRC, Volkswagen team withdrew. And since that time, Volkswagen didn't get involved in WRC except an unsuccessful Golf G60 program. There has always been a discussion between Volkswagen fans that why Volkswagen never competed in motorsports at full scale. In 2003, Volkswagen decided to compete in Paris Dakar series, preparing a Volkswagen Touareg for the event. This program was successful and gave confidence to the Volkswagen. Two years ago, Volkswagen prepared a Volkswagen Polo to race in IRC Championship however they only entered two or three rallies with this car and then withdrew. This year, Volkswagen released the longly awaited Scirocco and decided to participate in Nurburgring 24 event. The Sciroccos were less powerful than most of the cars but they grabbed 9^th and 12^th place beating the fierce rivals Opel. This seemed to be a turning point for Volkswagen.

Kris Nissen, the head of Volkswagen Motorsports was seen in Rally of Finland. After major constructors like Mitsubishi pulled out of WRC, FIA failed to attract new constructors to the WRC. It is a big possibility that Volkswagen would be in WRC next year but it is still unconfirmed. Fiat and Renault are also making preparations to enter WRC. It is a big question that which car Volkswagen will use for WRC program. Some say the new introduced Scirocco is a big favorite so it can create a fan base but some others say Golf which has millions of enthusiast, will be the new rally car. Skoda, one of the marques of Volkswagen competed in WRC before so it is obvious that the Volkswagen engineers will benefit from that experience. 6 months left till the start of the 2009, WRC will be very exciting to watch next year as the new global promoter will be chosen too.