Volkswagen Virtus GT Race Car To Debut Next Month - 1.5-Litre TSI Engine With 213Bhp

The Volkswagen Virtus GT race car will make its debut on October 8 with drivers Sandeep Kumar and Jeet Jhabakh (Volkswagen Polo Cup Champion, and Volkswagen Ameo Cup Champion, respectively).

Speaking about the Volkswagen Virtus GT race car, engineers at Volkswagen Motorsport India has used the existing 1.5-litre TSI engine from the Volkswagen Virtus GT sedan. However, the engine has been tuned to develop 213bhp of power and a mammoth 300Nm of torque.

Apart from this, the standard 7-speed DSG gearbox has been thrown out in favour of a race-ready 6-speed sequential gearbox.

Since the Volkswagen Virtus GT race car has been built under the current ITC regulations, numerous changes have been made to the new Volkswagen Virtus GT race car. However, the most noticeable changes being the lowered suspension, larger yet lighter 17-inch alloy wheels, grippier MRF tyres, and strengthened chassis.

In addition to these changes, the Volkswagen Virtus GT race car features numerous standard changes to' Race Car' modifications such as an FIA-approved roll cage, engine cut-off mechanism, and a few weight-saving measures as well.

Speaking about the Volkswagen Virtus sedan, the German automaker recently completed 5,000 deliveries of the Virtus sedan in the country in just 2 months. Moreover, the Volkswagen Virtus sedan comes under the German automaker's new 'India 2.0' strategy.

Also, the Volkswagen Virtus sedan is built on the same MQB-A0 IN platform as the Volkswagen Taigun. As a result, it is a size larger than the Vento sedan and measures 4,561mm long, 1,752mm wide, 1,507mm tall, and sports a wheelbase of 2,651mm.

Thanks to the MQB A0-IN platform, the new Volkswagen Virtus sedan comes with features such as a large 10.1-inch touchscreen infotainment unit with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, wireless charging pad, a fully-digital instrument cluster, electric sunroof, automatic climate control, automatic headlamps, automatic wipers, cruise control, rear AC vents, auto headlamps, auto wipers and much more.

It is also worth mentioning that the Volkswagen Virtus sedan comes with top-tier safety features such as 6-airbags, Tyre Pressure Monitoring System, ABS, EBD, reverse camera, rear parking sensors, Traction Control (TC) and much more.

In terms of powertrain, the Volkswagen Virtus also comes with two petrol engine options. The base engine option is a 1.0-litre TSI engine with 113bhp of peak power and 178Nm of peak torque. The next engine option is a larger 1.5-litre TSI petrol engine with 147.5bhp of peak power and 250Nm of peak torque.

Gearbox options include a 6-speed manual transmission and a 6-speed automatic gearbox for the 1.0 TSI variants. However, the Volkswagen Virtus equipped with the 1.5 TSI engine comes exclusively with a 7-speed DSG gearbox.

At present, the Volkswagen Virtus sedan is priced from Rs 11.21 lakh (ex-showroom, India) for the base Comfortline variant and goes all the way up to Rs 17.91 lakh (ex-showroom, India) for the top-spec GT Plus variant. In India, the Volkswagen Virtus sedan competes with other sedans in the segment such as the Honda City, Hyundai Verna, Skoda Slavia, and Maruti Suzuki Ciaz.

Thoughts About Volkswagen Virtus Race Car

While Volkswagen seems to regain its market share with its new Virtus sedan and Taigun SUV, the sales figures are not as high as many of us have expected. However, the introduction of the Virtus GT race car will help boost the reach of the Virtus sedan in India and also attract younger demographic as well.