Dual World Rallycross champion Solberg launches new VW Polo for '17
Double World Rallycross champion Petter Solberg has launched the Volkswagen Motorsport-built Polo GTI his works-backed team will race this season
Solberg's outfit is entering a new partnership with VW Motorsport, and will race under the PSRX Volkswagen World RX Sweden banner, joined by new team-mate Johan Kristoffersson.
The new World RX Polo is based on VW's dominant World Rally Championship Polo and has been adapted for rallycross at the German manufacturer's Hannover base.
"We are really pumped up to do this, it's very exciting," Solberg said during Monday's launch event in Stockholm.
"It's been a lot of work. It looks nice here now and everything, but all of the team are flat out back in Hannover working on the car and it's nice to see that really big passion.
"I have had a lot of opportunities to do different sports or with other teams in rallycross but I'm a stubborn guy you know; I really want to be a part of this myself.
"We're happy with the aggressive styling of the car, we need to scare the other competitors too."
Fabrice van Ertvelde, the World RX project manager for Volkswagen, will be Solberg's race engineer on events.
The partnership reunites Solberg and Volkswagen Motorsport technical director Francois-Xavier Demaison.
The pair worked together with the Subaru WRC team and Solberg's own private WRC team, with Demaison explaining that the car shares technology with VW's successful rally Polo and Global Rallycross Championship Beetle.
"This is three and a half months of work so it's not a revolution," he said.
"We started with a well-known WRC car from 2014, so this is a rally car that we've adapted to rallycross rules
"The transmission and cooling are very specific for rallycross and we've used an engine we've developed for the GRC."
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