Volkswagen more than interested in WRC entry

The head of Volkswagen’s motorsport division says the manufacturer could be competing in the World Rally Championship as early as 2013 if plans are given the green light in the coming months.

VW’s motorsport director Kris Nissen spoke of the company’s interest in building a World Rally Car during Rallye Deutschland, where the firm launched its latest Dakar challenger, the Race Touareg 3.

Volkswagen also had a strong presence on the stages last week, with former double World Rally Champion Carlos Sainz opening the roads at the wheel of a bio-fuelled VW Scirocco Zero Car.

Commenting on speculation that Volkswagen was close to following MINI in announcing a new WRC programme, Nissen said: “We’ve been looking into this for more than a year. We think it’s very interesting and I have never made a secret out of it. The fact is we are very, very happy to see MINI and now there will be three manufacturers.

“We are very happy with the cooperation of Jean Todt and the FIA. In two or three years we will see even more interesting rally for the spectators and for the people at the races. That’s something we like to hear and we are more than interested,” he added.

That interest could lead to the development of a brand new Volkswagen World Rally Car version of the Polo, Golf or Scirocco.

“When we press the button we need about two years and that means if in the short future - I’m talking about the next months - we could make a decision we could be there in 2013 but if not we can be there in 2014,” explained Nissen.

“We are really very pleased to see the way the rally is going and we also need to think about the history of motorsport. We have always had cars on the track, especially F1 cars, we have Le Mans cars - which is also a historic race - and we have the rally. The rally has always been there, in different formats, but it has always been there. I really think that the World Rally Championship is one of the most interesting sports in motorsport you can have.”