Knysna – There may have been an ultimate winner for the King of the Hill title at the Simola Hillclimb in Knysna at the weekend but if you had to ask anyone who the real star of the show was it would hands down be Petter Solberg in his VW Polo R WRX Supercar.
Both the car and the Norwegian former World Rally and Rallycross champion were coaxed out of retirement by Volkswagen Motorsport South Africa and it proved to be an inspired decision, lighting up the tar and the Modified Saloon Cars category.
His flamboyant style, pleasant demeanour and incredible ability to take the turbocharged two-litre four cylinder all-wheel drive, with 419kW and 650Nm of torque, up the hill at full tilt left spectators and fellow competitors amazed at the combination’s ability to push the boundaries of grip and physics to the limit. Watch him in action below:
The car was taken out of the Volkswagen AutoMuseum in Wolfsburg, dusted off by a group of mechanics and flown to South Africa along with chief engineer Phil Hull, whose previous experience with the car ensured that things went smoothly throughout the weekend.
But that’s not all, as they say.
Solberg’s last outing in the car was four years ago and this was his first taste of it since then. He blasted his first run up the 1.9km tarmac in 40.867 seconds, which was good enough for second place and 1.3 seconds behind Reghard Roets in the massively modified and far more powerful Nissan R-35 GT-R, known as ‘Armageddon’.
“I put all my trust in the mechanics,” he said at dinner and when asked whether he had at least taken a drive up the hill the day before to get a feel for corners, turns and apexes, he shook his head and replied, “I just drive what I see in front of me.”
Throughout the weekend’s qualifying rounds the competition was between the VW Polo, Roets’s GT-R and four time King of the Hill Franco Scribante in his radical time attack-inspired GT-R nicknamed ‘The Sheriff’.
Sunday proved just as exciting with the on-off rain adding an extra dimension to track conditions.
Ultimately Solberg just didn’t have enough brute power to take the title, but finishing third in 41.281 seconds behind eventual winner Scribante in 39.877 and Roets in 40.539 is a remarkable feat.
“I didn’t have the right tyres, so my last run was just okay, but I’m very happy with the result,” Solberg said. “I’m very lucky that the wet weather arrived just in time so I could get the podium. The car was perfect, and to finish in the top three with a four-cylinder Polo against some serious hillclimb cars isn’t bad.
“The fans and the atmosphere have been amazing, and it has been really special to meet all the people, sign autographs and feel so appreciated,” he said.
“We came here to make a great show of it and have fun, and the racing side of it went a lot better than I expected. I would really like to come back next year, so we’ll see what the future holds.”
The future does hold more of the same but better, according to VW South Africa.
“We’re going to be visiting the head office in Germany soon to discuss next year and how we can build on the foundation we laid here this weekend,” said Mike Rowe, head of Volkswagen Motorsport.
“It was an incredible two days of racing, and Petter has been a massive hit both with the team and the public with the Polo we had here.”
Volkswagen also had three Golf Rs going up the hill in the A2 class driven by VW factory drivers Jonathan Mogotsi and Daniel Rowe as well as Solberg’s brother and rallycross driver Henning, competing against the much more powerful Mercedes A45 S Hatch driven by Mercedes Driving Academy’s Clint Weston and Mercedes CLA 45 S with former F1 driver Mika Salo behind the wheel.
Mogotsi finished third up the wet and slippery hill in 52.567 seconds behind second-placed Salo (50.741) and class winner Weston (49.134).
Piloting the Polo SupaCup, Graeme Nathan put last year’s disappointing finish, where he missed first place by 0.016 seconds, behind him, by acing the hill in 50.664 seconds.
Fastest up the hill for the weekend was Andre Bezuidenhout for his sixth consecutive title in the single-seater and sports prototype category, crossing the line in his Gould GR55 in 37.580 seconds.
IOL Motoring