Volkswagen To Pull Out of World Rally Championship, Leaving Top Drivers On Market

Volkswagen will quit the World Rally Championship at the end of the '16 season, according to David Evans of AUTOSPORT. Sources confirmed the decision was taken at a board meeting at VW HQ in Wolfsburg on Tuesday morning. There had "been hopes that VW could be granted a single-season extension" to make use of the all-new 2017 specification Polo R WRC that it has developed, "but those hopes were extinguished in the meeting." Instead, the program -- like sister firm Audi's World Endurance Championship commitment -- "will be canned" at the end of '16. VW has made no official comment on the decision. The move leaves reigning champion Sebastien Ogier and rally winners Jari-Matti Latvala and Andreas Mikkelsen on the driver market (AUTOSPORT, 11/1).