This is how the Volkswagen Motorsport world champion team tackles the ADAC Rallye Deutschland

• Facts & figures about Volkswagen Motorsport’s run-up to the “home rally”
• Partner of the German FIA WRC rally impresses with fascinating team logistics and enormous commitment

Munich/Trier, 20 July 2015 – There is no better way to describe Volkswagen Motorsport’s preparations for the ADAC Rallye Deutschland: in true world champion style. Ever since their first WRC season in 2013, the team from Wolfsburg has not left anything to chance and promptly won the title, repeating the feat in 2014. Sébastien Ogier is definitely on the road to victory in the 2015 FIA World Rally Championship – flanked by his Volkswagen chums Jari-Matti Latvala and Andreas Mikkelsen. However, on its way to the grand title, the German team still has to settle a score: the ADAC Rallye Deutschland. Strangely enough, it is the home rally of all WC races in the WRC calendar where the Polo R WRC does not yet feature in the winners’ list. When you ask Volkswagen Motorsport director Jost Capito, this will change in 2015. The following facts and figures illustrate the amount of effort the world champion team puts into achieving this objective.

The Volkswagen Motorsport centre in Hannover controls the Title Hattrick project which unites some 190 persons from over 20 nations. A staff of approximately 70 will be around at the ADAC Rallye Deutschland. As they did for all their European rally events, Volkswagen Motorsport will come to Trier with seven trucks. These will carry the 318hp Polo R WRC, the entire recce equipment including three Golf R cars, the office for the engineers and the team manager, all spare parts, tools, wheel rims, tyre racks, a cleaning facility and the equipment for the service park. All this amounts to some 79 tons of material.

During the ADAC Rallye Deutschland, the Volkswagen Motorsport service park setup in Trier reminds of a small factory floor: there is a total of 16 cabinets for spare parts and tools, approximately 40 aluminium boxes for additional parts and special tools and an extra of 15 steel storage racks for equipment and spare parts. The logistical challenge also includes further trucks to enable the team and media hospitality zone.

These figures are even more stunning when you bear in mind that servicing the Polo R WRC only requires 66 different tools, ranging from an air gun to a wire brush, to spare blades for the cutter knife, to a torque wrench, to a screwdriver and a measuring tape. Another 15 will be used for the first setup and run-up preparations to the ADAC Rallye Deutschland. How apt the world champion mechanics are in using all these tools tells us a look at the average service times: twelve minutes for the gear box change, four minutes to install a new transverse control arm, one minute for changing the front apron – quite a stunt, and visitors of the ADAC Rallye Deutschland can watch a live performance in the service park (Messepark Trier fairgrounds).

The Volkswagen Motorsport engineers’ comprehensive preparations are another important milestone in gearing up Sébastien Ogier, Jari-Matti Latvala and Andreas Mikkelsen for the 21 Special Stages of this year’s ADAC Rallye Deutschland: each rally year, these engineers evaluate data of around 17.5 gigabytes, which translates into approximately 240,000 pages of text alone for the German event of the FIA WRC. To avoid any fatigue setting in because of this mass of information, the Volkswagen Motorsport crew turns about 240l of water into coffee during the four days of the ADAC Rallye Deutschland, which corresponds to approx. 1,600 cups.

Volkswagen Motorsport’s communication with fans and media also has world champion character. The event sees a few thousand posters and autograph cards distributed. And the Volkswagen Motorsport media team provides international journalists with some 63 pages of press releases on the ADAC Rallye Deutschland.

As an official partner of the ADAC Rallye Deutschland, Volkswagen is also involved in the social programme of the crowd-drawing event. Especially on the Baumholder military range known as the famous Arena Panzerplatte (22 August), the world champion will stand up and be counted also in 2015: in addition to installing a huge video wall showing exciting live images of the three first-time Special Stages in the Sprint format, ADAC and Volkswagen currently discuss and prepare further highlights and activities for the fans.