The fan base of the Volkswagen Race Polo has extended beyond extreme South India and now includes Sri Lanka as well. 17th December, 2011 is going to be special for Volkswagen lovers in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo as they will be able to see eleven Race Polo cars matching each other in speed during a special Night Race on the city streets. This race forms part of the inauguration of the Night Races in Colombo, an event organized as a prelude for its famous Electric Peacock Festival. The festival is the first independent one organized by Sri Lanka in the field of international music. Seven drivers from the list of top ten participants of the India 2011 season of Polo R Cup is going to participate in this race with four guest drivers from Sri Lanka filling up the grid.
This Volkswagen Race Polo is going to be a supporting race for this racing weekend that is going to feature six different racing formats as part of this competition. The other events are going to witness motorbikes and cars lining up under different categories over an identified circuit of 2 kms across the streets of Colombo. These streets have been specially re-laid for this event. Friday will kick off this racing weekend with a couple of practice sessions as well as a session for qualification. The main races are going to be organized on Saturday night, where the cars are going to cover the identified circuit in 10 laps, under the effects of flood lights.
The Head, Volkswagen Motorsports – India, Prithviraj Siddappa, commented on this development saying that the company was thrilled at getting the opportunity of racing on Colombo streets during night time, a racing format in which it would be participating for the first time ever. This experience is expected to encourage its young drivers and they would get the opportunity to learn a lot from this experience, as this race was not being held in a conventional circuit. The drivers would have to quickly adapt to this new challenge and change their styles of racing accordingly. Volkswagen Motorsports is giving a lot of significance to this race as it highlights the fact that the popularity of the Polo R Cup organized in India has stretched beyond the boundaries of the country. Also, Siddappa feels that such races could prove useful platforms for attracting greater talents to participate in the future events of the Polo R Cup.
