Volkswagen Golf24 Nürburgring Racer

Volkswagen will be competing in this year’s 24-hour endurance race at the Nürburgring. The Contender? A specially developed Golf24. The DTM style Golf borrows its 2.5-litre turbocharged 5-cylinder engine from sister company, Audi. The same power plant currently motivates the TT RS and RS3 models.

For the Golf24, VW has modified the engine to deliver 440 hp and a maximum torque of 540Nm. Power is transmitted to the permanent all-wheel drive by a sequential 6-speed gearbox with flappy paddles.

It has been 4 years since Volkswagen last deployed a factory Golf for the Nürburgring endurance race. In 2007, the car had front-wheel drive and delivered only 300 hp and finished 8^th place overall. In the past three years though, VW has been competing in the race with the Scirocco GT24.

When asked, VW Motorsport Director, Kris Nissen said VW is committed to the Nürburgring 24-hour race. “The event enjoys huge popularity, is one of the true classics in motorsport and, due to its extreme distance and unique race track, also represents a very big technical challenge. With our spectacular Golf, we want to provide an additional highlight in front of a large audience – right in time for the 35^th anniversary of the GTI this year”.

The new Golf24 is currently undergoing its first circuit tests in Portugal and Italy. The testing and development programme will continue until the Nürburgring racing event from June 23 to 26.