Volkswagen Polo R Cup 2013, Prashanth Tharani clinches the pole position for Race 1 of the second round in Coimbatore

Round 2 of JK Tyre Volkswagen Polo R Cup kicked off today with an exciting qualifying session in which the experienced drivers once again showed their upper hand over the rookie drivers.

Prashanth Tharani from Chennai was the fastest driver on the track today. Following him closely was South Africa’s Jeffrey Kruger. Rookie driver Samarth Jaiswal will start third while Yatin Magu will join him on the second row and start from fourth spot.
The experienced drivers once again showed their skills over the rookie drivers as four out of top five are drivers from earlier Polo R Cup seasons. Even more interestingly, all four of them were able to set the fastest lap in their very first flying lap. Prashanth Tharani managed to secure the pole position by setting a lap time of 1:14.844, 0.255 seconds clear of Jeffrey Kruger who took the second spot. The only rookie driver to make it with the top runners was Samarth Jaiswal who set went fastest on his 8th lap. He will start 3rd and it will be a challenge for the rookie to defend his position alongside the ace drivers. Total 19 drivers will start Race 1 on Sunday as Adnan Lehry had a crash and will not be able to make it to the grid due to a damaged car. 
JK Tyre Volkswagen Vento Support Race

Besides the Polo action, Volkswagen Motorsport, for the first time, has organised a Support Race tomorrow, in which Volkswagen Vento cars will be racing against each other. The Vento race drivers had 2 practice sessions on Friday before they made it to the qualifying today.

 Siddharth Santosh took the pole position for this race while Shrivatsa Sinha will start from second place.

Radio Controlled Cars Competition

The weekend has another unique race of sorts, featuring Radio Controlled Cars. The competition will include 3 heat sessions of 10 minutes each and a final race of 15 minutes. There are 16 professional RC cars’ controllers registered for participating in this race.

 The event has been organised by the veteran racer GD Rajkumar, an expert at radio controlled cars himself. The heats will be conducted throughout the day between racing events and the final race will be conducted during lunch time.

Motor sports enthusiasts interested in getting further information can log on to the website, volkswagen-motorsport.in. This website displays information about Polo R Cup format, race updates and driver profiles.

In more than 40 years of motorsport history Volkswagen has been setting standards primarily in three areas: The brand celebrated exploits in touring car racing, formula racing and rally racing. The brand’s history in motorsport started in 1966, in formula racing. Formula V – "V” stood for Volkswagen – became an important career step for drivers like Keke Rosberg or Niki Lauda. With 58 hp and the robust technology of the Beetle it offered favourably priced entry and high-quality racing for young drivers. Later, one-make cups like Formula König powered by Volkswagen and Formula Volkswagen built upon this line and consistently followed through on the one-make cup idea with standard chassis. In 2008 Formula ADAC powered by Volkswagen started to continue this tradition.
In comparison with other manufacturers Volkswagen set the pace on the formula stage as well. Between 1979 and 1994 Volkswagen, as a Formula 3 engine manufacturer, won 55 international titles, including seven in Germany. Since September 2007 Volkswagen has been competing in the Formula 3 Euro Series, since 2008 in the German Formula 3 Cup and since 2009 in the British Formula 3, and with success: 2009 saw the title wins in the ¬German and British Championships, and 2010 in all three series. At the prestigious Formula 3 finale in Macau in November 2009 and 2010 Edoardo Mortara celebrated wins "powered by Volkswagen”.
 Successes in rally sport
While the first off-road excursions date back all the way to the 1970s, Volkswagen has been systematically promoting young talent since 1980. For half a decade, the Golf Rally Cup offered optimum opportunities to young drivers. Concurrently, Volkswagen in the 1986 World Rally Championship (WRC) clinched the title win in Group A with the Golf and driver Kenneth Eriksson. In cross-country rally sport the brand achieved its first big exploit by winning the 1980 Dakar Rally. From 2009 to 2011 Volkswagen became the first manufacturer to win the legendary rallye with a car powered by a Diesel engine. Volkswagen is creating history once again by re-entering the WRC 2013. After rigorous testing through-out 2012, the Polo WRC race car is taking the rally by storm by stamping wins in the early stages.
 Attractive one-make cups in touring car racing
In more than three decades Volkswagen has shaped the touring car scene as well. The Scirocco Cup, as the first one-make cup from 1976 onwards, produced a subsequent Formula 1 driver, Manfred Winkelhock. It was followed by the Golf Cup and the Lupo/Polo Cup from which numerous talented drivers managed to ascend to higher-level series. Currently, the Scirocco R-Cup is setting bench-marks in the European racing circuits.