Two-time World Rally Champion Carlos Sainz has driven Volkswagen's Polo R WRC for the first time during the car's first gravel test in Spain this week.
VW tester Dieter Depping and Sebastien Ogier drove the car in Norway two weeks ago, but Sainz shared seat time in the Polo with Ogier this week. Between them, Ogier and Sainz completed around 450 miles of rough running in Spain.
Volkswagen motorsport director Kris Nissen said: "Around 70 percent of the WRC consists of gravel tracks, about 20 percent of asphalt and roughly 10 percent of ice and snow.
"The gravel test in Spain served to simulate the roughest WRC sections and to take the car to its load and stress limits. Particularly chassis components such as the hub carriers, dampers and suspension components were successfully tested in the limit range. Carlos Sainz and Sebastien Ogier are working together extremely well – the two are forming a very good combination. They respect each other without any rivalry and are purposefully driving the project forward.
"Our next step will be to run further tests on tarmac in order to complete our specifications book and to then check off each item on the list."