VW Motorsport has just confirmed that Petter Solberg will be competing in the 2023 Simola Hillclimb racing event.
Now in its 13th year, the Simola Hillclimb event will take place from 4 to 7 May 2023 and will see Solberg try get the Polo R WRX Supercar up the hill as fast as possible.
“We are very excited to announce that Petter Solberg will be making his way to South Africa to race in the Polo R WRX Supercar. Solberg’s partnership with Volkswagen started in 2017 where he set up the PSRX Volkswagen Sweden team in partnership with Volkswagen Motorsport. Solberg won the Team’s Championship in both 2017 and 2018 before his retirement from full-time racing. We are thrilled to have Petter come out of retirement to race for us in South Africa,” said Mike Rowe, Head of Volkswagen Motorsport.
Standout features of the Polo R WRX Supercar include engine cooling which has an emphasis on aerodynamics thus making it far more efficient. The rear wing of the supercar creates more downforce and allows a wide range of set-up options. The Polo R WRX Supercar’s engine develops 419kW of power with a torque peak of 650Nm at 5 000 rpm. The four-cylinder engine is coupled with a sequential, six-gear racing transmission and it takes just 1.9 seconds to complete the 0 – 100km/h sprint.
The Volkswagen Motorsport line-up this year will also include its factory drivers Jonathan Mogotsi and Daniel Rowe who will be competing in the Golf 8 R.
Graeme Nathan will be the fourth driver representing Volkswagen Motorsport. Last year, Nathan came in close second in the Class B2 finals in one of the closest margins in the history of the Simola Hillclimb; 0.016 seconds. Graeme Nathan will be competing in the Polo SupaCup racing car yet again this year.
