Audi recently pulled the plug on its WEC team due to complications caused by the Volkswagen emission scandals, but now it has been confirmed that Volkswagen’s highly successful World Rally Championship team is to get the axe as well.
According to Autocar, a high-ranking Volkswagen official has confirmed that a decision was made at the Volkswagen board meeting, held today. It has also confirmed that the 200 WRC employees within the team will be retained to work on the customer TCR Golf. Some might shift into Skoda’s rally programme.
An official statement will be made tomorrow, but the main reason for this, is to cut costs in order to compensate for the fallout caused by the Dieselgate scandal last year. The official announcement from CEO Matthias Mueller is said to take place on the 17th of November at the Coffs Harbour rally in Australia.
This comes as a disappointing announcement considering how successful the team has been. Since its inception in 2013, the team has dominated, with it claiming 41 victories, four driver and four manufacturer titles, largely thanks to driver Sébastien Ogier and the effective Polo R.
The 2017 Polo R has already been developed and is ready to go but Volkswagen says it will stay within its workshop and not be sold to potential customer teams. With Hyundai, Citroen and Toyota having developed some formidable rally cars, it comes as a huge disappointment that VW to not defend its WRC title next year.
