Final end for VW waiver hopes

Volkswagen Motorsport has announced that they have abandoned their hope of gaining a waiver from the FIA for homologation of the 2017 design Polo R WRC.  

It is a firm FIA requirement that World Rally Car homologation cannot be issued unless the manufacturer first registers a team in the World Championship for the forthcoming year, which in their case is no longer allowed by the parent company.  

Volkswagen had hoped the special circumstances in which their 2017 car had been prepared and made ready for homologation procedure would entitle them to have registration formality waived, allowing the use of the model by private competitors.  

There are no clear guidelines as to which of the FIA regulations are immutable or which are negotiable.  

This week the FIA granted private driver, Henning Solberg, permission to change his entry for a 2017 Ford Fiesta WRC to a Skoda Fabia R5 car, notwithstanding that changes in Groups after entry are not authorised in the FIA Sporting Regulations.  

The FIA does not publish details when individual waivers are granted to either competitors or organisers.  

VW, meanwhile, has confirmed that they hope shortly to announce details of individual rental agreements for their championship winning 2016 cars.
 
- Martin Holmes

Author