Andre van der Watt – who is back in South Africa after completing a five-year assignment as head of Volkswagen Racing in Germany – will head VWSA’s motorsport department.
Andre van der Watt – who is back in South Africa after completing a five-year assignment as head of Volkswagen Racing in Germany – has been appointed manager of VWSA’s motorsport department.
Before taking up his duties in Wolfsburg, Van der Watt was VWSA’s motorsport manager. He was instrumental in the success of Audi in the SA rally championships and modified saloon championships in the Eighties. He was also at the forefront of Volkswagen’s Group N and rally successes of the Eigties and mid-Nineties.
He had numerous successes in Germany, the most recent being the record-breaking run of the Volkswagen W12 Coupe at Nardo in Italy in October last year. The W12 broke almost all long-distance records, with an average speed of just under 300km/h.
Last year, Bentley returned to the Le Mans 24-hour race after a long absence to claim third place under the tutelage of former VWSA product engineering chief, Brian Gush. Incidentally, the head of Bentley Motor Cars, Dr Franz-Josef Paefgen, has now been appointed head of the Volkswagen group’s motorsport activities. This means that all the different motorsport departments across the Group will now report to him.
Meanwhile, Johan Evertse, the manager of Volkswagen Racing for most of the past two years, will now assume the position of Head of Competitions at VWSA, a spokesman for the company announced on Monday.
