China, Japan, South Africa, USA, Denmark – one make cup races booming with Volkswagen.
The ADAC Volkswagen Polo Cup in particular has become an export hit, as clearly demonstrated in 2008 in the form of the new Jetta TDI Cup, the first diesel race series in the USA.
In 2009 the successful concept “made in Germany” will continue its journey with the new Scirocco Cup in China. Volkswagen has once again assisted many young talented drivers around the world with their first steps in motorsport with the “Touring Car School” concept. The long one-make cup season only finished shortly before Christmas with the final round of the traditional Polo-Cup in China.
“The ‘Touring Car School’ model has proved to be a genuine export hit,” says Volkswagen Motorsport Director Kris Nissen. “The promotion and support of young talent and the absolute performance parity of the cars and reasonable costs were always important components of the motorsport programme, also beyond Germany’s borders. The pictures of bright-eyed winners and champions in Asia, Africa or the USA are a fitting reward for our involvement.”
ADAC Volkswagen Polo Cup Germany: Rambow claims nail biting finale
The ADAC Volkswagen Polo Cup championship, in which identical Polos equipped with 150 hp two-litre engines race, was only decided at the season finale in Hockenheim. The 19-year old Alexander Rambow won the duel with 23-year old South African Shane Williams thanks to his three victories during the season. Two points were all that separated the two young stars at the end. The Swede Andreas Simonsen secured third position. In the prestigious category for newcomers Maximilian Sandritter dominated as he wished and was the “best Rookie” in six races.
ADAC Volkswagen Polo Cup final standings after ten races: 1st Alexander Rambow (D), 382 points; 2nd Shane Williams (ZA), 380; 3rd Andreas Simonsen (S), 314; 4th Thor Qualmann (DK), 284; 5th Maciej Steinhof (PL), 268; 6th Niclas Olsson (S), 252; 7th Elia Erhart (D), 241; 8th Maximilian Sandritter (D), 235; 9th Sebastian Voges (D), 188; 10th Stefan Kolb (D), 185.
Volkswagen Polo Cup Denmark: Elgaard champion at penultimate round
In the Danish Volkswagen Polo Cup, traditionally a part of the Danish Touring Car Championship (DTC) programme, the 25-year old local matador Dennis Elgaard was crowned champion with three wins and a second place after only five of the six rounds in the championship using identical Polos with 180 hp 1.8 litre turbo engines. Ninth place at Padborg Park for his sole remaining title rival Thomas Faraas was not enough. At the season finale at the Jyllandsringen the Norwegian even lost second place overall to the Dane Christoffer Østerby who won the final race of the year.
Volkswagen Polo Cup Denmark final standings after six races: 1st Dennis Elgaard, 97 points; 2nd Christoffer Østerby, 85; 3rd Thomas Faraas, 69; 4th Jan Seerup, 52; 5th Anders Fjordbach, 46; 6th Jens Enemark and Preben Møller, 40; 8th Kasper Bording, 33; 9th Morten Troelsen, 25; 10th Kenny Bremerstent, 22.
Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup USA: Green racing overseas
The Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup is the first diesel powered one-make cup series in the USA and represents “Green Racing” because of the catalytic converter and particle filter equipped 170 hp standard race car. In line with the “Touring Car School” principle from around 700 applicants 30 talents aged between 16 and 26 were selected. The champion in the debut season is called Josh Hurley. The 23-year old from Florida won one race in Portland. Owing to his strong finish to the season which netted two wins in the final two races of the year Liam Kenney managed to jump to second overall. Shane Williams also made a strong impression in a ‘wild card’ start: The ADAC Volkswagen Polo Cup runner-up in Germany won a race in New Jersey.
Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup final standings after eight races: 1st Josh Hurley, 260 points; 2nd Liam Kenney, 255; 3rd Mark Pombo, 234; 4th David Jurca, 211; 5th Chris Castagna, 210; 6th Chris Holman, 200; 7th Michael DeNino, 186; 8th Jimmy Underhill, 184; 9th Caleb Kenney, 167; 10th Andy Lee, 130.
Volkswagen Polo Cup South Africa: Mortimer vaults to victory from fourth place
Jared Mortimer held fourth place overall, eleven points behind championship leader Gennaro Bonafede, entering the final Volkswagen Polo Cup South Africa race weekend at Killarney. With a second place in race one and his seventh victory of the season in race two the South African still managed claim the championship crown, but benefitted also from the withdrawal due to illness of the previous second placed driver Miguel Pasqualli.
Volkswagen Polo Cup South Africa final standings after 20 races: 1st Jared Mortimer, 181 points; 2nd Mathew Hodges, 176; 3rd Gennaro Bonafede, 176; 4th Miguel Pasqualli, 162; 5th Bryan Morgan, 131; 6th Grant Gatland, 121; 7th Kieren Quarmby, 103; 8th Divan Wentzel, 94; 9th Devon Robertson, 91; 10th Raymond Johnson, 84.
Volkswagen Golf GTI Cup Japan: Hamasaki defends championship crown
The outstanding driver in the Volkswagen Golf GTI Cup Japan is called Masaru Hamasaki. The defending champion claimed pole position on both race weekends and won all four races at the Tsukuba Circuit. At the second event, ADAC Volkswagen Polo Cup “Rookie” champion Maximilian Sandritter caused a stir on his Asian debut after claiming a brace of second place finishes behind Hamasaki.
Volkswagen Golf GTI Cup Japan final standings after four races: 1st Masaru Hamasaki, 76; 2nd Tetsu Maruyama, 43; 3rd Mitsuru Hagiwara, 40; 4th Ken Kubo, 30; 5. Maximilian Sandritter, 29; 6th Takahiro Teshigawara, 19; 7th Kenichi Suzuki, 18; 8th Hiromaro Suzuki, 13; 9th Yoshimichi, 11; 10th Hironobu Fujio, 2.
Volkswagen Polo Cup China: Xu Weidan and Lai Ming are leading duo
Xu Weidan (Malaysia) and Lai Ming (Beijing) dominated the Volkswagen Polo Cup in China, which was held over ten rounds. On the final race weekend at the end of December the two drivers fought among themselves for the title, Xu Weidan had the upper hand with a four point advantage over his rival. Ignacio Espinosa also competed in Asia as reward for his exemplary press work in Germany. The 17-year old Peruvian represented the ADAC Volkswagen Polo Cup outstandingly by scoring a second place in Zhuhai.
Volkswagen Polo Cup China final standings after ten races: 1st Xu Weidan, 176 points; 2nd Lai Ming, 172; 3rd Le Kepeng, 150; 4th Hu Yi, 133; 5th Wan Jincun, 107; 6th Liu Kai, 104; 7th Xia Yu, 101; 8th Teng Jianghe, 77; 9th Long Lingyun, 76; 10th Lu Lei, 75.
