Petrolheads in for mega treat: VWSA brings Petter Solberg, Polo R WRX Supercar to Simola Hillclimb

If you weren't planning to attend the 2023 Simola Hillclimb in Knysna in May, this news from Volkswagen SA might change your mind.

Now in its 13th year, the Simola Hillclimb event will take place from 4 to 7 May 2023. With more automakers involved in one of the year's most exciting local motorsport events, the Simola Hillclimb is seemingly becoming bigger and better than we've ever experienced.

Toyota revealed it would debut its highly anticipated Corolla GR, and BMW is bringing the all-new 480kW plug-in hybrid XM.

Now Volkswagen Motorsport has announced the line-up of drivers and cars competing in the annual Simola Hillclimb racing event. 

Mike Rowe, head of Volkswagen Motorsport, says: "We are very excited to announce that Petter Solberg will make his way to South Africa to race in the Polo R WRX Supercar. 

"Solberg's partnership with Volkswagen started in 2017 when he set up the PSRX Volkswagen Sweden team in partnership with Volkswagen Motorsport. Solberg won the Team's Championship in 2017 and 2018 before retiring from full-time racing. We are thrilled to have Petter come out of retirement to race for us in South Africa."

With two drivers' titles and two teams' FIA World Championship wins, the Polo R WRX Supercar is arguably the most successful race car of the modern rallycross era.

VW Motorsport says the 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 000rpm. The four-cylinder engine is coupled with a sequential, six-gear racing transmission, and