Volkswagen has just unveiled its all new TSI Race Polo car for the upcoming Polo Cup 2012 racing event. The biggest change this year is that the Polos will be powered by a petrol engine instead of the diesel engine that powered the cars for the last two seasons.

A 1.4-litre TSI 4-cylinder engine with 180bhp and 250Nm of torque will power the cars as opposed to the 1.6-litre 130bhp unit from last seasons. Volkswagen has also done away with the manual gearbox and the cars will now get a Direct Shift Gearbox (DSG), with paddle shifts.

This year the company has also introduced three new categories – Junior, Pro and Master. Eleven drivers from the last two seasons have decided to remain with the series along with nine new entrants. Fee for participating in the Junior and Pro category is Rs 7 lakh each and for Master category is Rs 14 lakh for the entire season.

The first race will be at Coimbatore in June and the sixth and last round will be in the first week of December. With the arrival of this new engine on the Polo Cup car we will now commence pestering Volkswagen to give us a 1.8 TSI 180bhp Polo for the roads as well. It's time we get a real hot hatch, right TopGearers?

Tags: volkswagen, polo, cup