[Via YouTube]

[Via YouTube]

Don’t get too excited — it was mainly a photo op, so the floggings were minimal. Nonetheless, Rally Deutschland this past weekend was the venue for Carlos Sainz’s exhibition burn in Volkswagen Motorsports’ Scirocco GT24-CNG. That’s the 275-hp, race version of the Scirocco R-Cup powered by bio-natural-gas. Sainz piloted the “number zero” car as a course opener during Friday’s stages, while VW teammate Nasser Al-Attiyah ran it on Saturday and Sunday.

Volkswagen calls the GT24-CNG — which also ran at the the Nürburgring 24-hour race earlier this year — cleanest car in the field, claiming it cuts CO2 emissions by 80 percent over the Gasoline-powered R-Cup. Sainz, a two-time WRC champ and Dakar 2010 winner, finished his last motorsport competition in Germany in third place: six years ago Sainz mounted the podium at the ADAC Rally Germany. Al-Attiyah, who finished second at Dakar this year in — like Sainz — a Diesel-powered Race Touareg 2, is contesting the WRC Super 2000 category.

VW’s playing to the eco-conscious crowd with this one. But tell me you wouldn’t love to see 500-hp Sciroccos in WRC. Sadly, it’s too big for the latest WRC rules. Don’t rule out its next pint-sized sibling — in a couple of years.

FIA GT driver Maurizio Mediani and Risi Competizione wheelsman Jaime Melo were seen this week giving the new Ferrari customer racer a stern talking-to at Rome’s Vallelunga circuit. And by “were seen” we of course mean for PR purposes. (more…)

It was 43 years ago that Mini last took a world rally championship. Now, the brand of diminutive Brits will return to the big stage with the Prodrive-built Countryman WRC. (more…)

The boys from Prodrive aren’t talking, but Autosport reports the UK motorsports firm will confirm its Mini WRC effort this week. Mini’s first World Rally Championship entry will reportedly be a Countryman, the company’s upcoming crossover SUV powered by a 1.6-liter turbocharged bit from BMW. Prodrive is expected to turn a rolling shell from the house of Mini into a full-blown rally competitor, with testing set to begin soon. Autosport sources say the new car could launch in Rome ahead of the Rally d’Italia-Sardegna in May next season — the car will sit out the first four rounds of next year’s World Rally Championship. Word is Norway’s Mads Ostberg, whose last WRC outings in 2009 were in an Adapta World Rally Team Subaru, has been tapped to drive.

[via Autosport]

“Fast and Furious” franchise player Paul Walker is actually a decent wheelman in the material world (or so we’re told). Walker’s been competing in the Redline Time Attack series with a lightened, caged-out and track-modded BMW M3 by Chino Cali’s AE Performance. (more…)

Answer this question: If you and your gang of French thugs needed a getaway car for your daylight heist of an armored cash wagon, would it be a previous-gen Audi A4? Think about it; the B7 A4 has everything a discerning, Gallic bad guy could want: stealth, handling (and did I mention stealth?), oh and legroom. Ok, make that two Audi A4s. (more…)