Marklund gets a Polo

TouringCar championship leader Anton Marklund will step up to the Supercar category in 2013 following the announcement by Marklund Motorsport that it has agreed terms with Volkswagen Sweden to use a Polo in Rallycross.

Fomerly competing as Bergteamet Motorsport, the team from Boliden in the north of Sweden has been rebranded this year as 19-year-old Marklund competes in his first full European championship season. Graduating from national events during 2011, Marklund was competitive in the TouringCar category last year and started his 2012 season by taking his first international victory at Lydden in the Monster Energy International Rallycross Festival on Easter Monday.

Marklund’s name had been linked to a Supercar, but the team had kept its link to VW under wraps and has trumped others in the paddock in securing a deal to run the German manufacturer’s attractive new Polo, the model that also forms the basis of VW’s return to World championship rallying in 2013. Marklund Motorsport has commissioned Ingvar Gunnarsson Motorsport to build two Supercar Polos. While it intends to use one car as its primary race machine and keep the second as a spare that will also be used for promotion purposes, it is open to running the car for a second driver who “meets the team’s high standards” and says that it is already in discussion regarding this.

Team boss Jan Marklund has given Gunnarsson carte blanche to create a winning concept said the Polo was the best car available for his team’s plans. “We’re making a serious investment to present a Swedish winner during the next few seasons, Volkwagen’s Polo is optimal in size and weight distribution and I am very excited about the prospects.”

As Bergteamet, Marklund entered Supercars in the ERC for a number of different drivers and enjoyed its best season in 2008 when Ludvig Hunsbedt won three events and finished second in the championship in its Volvo S40.