Volkswagen Motorsport director Jost Capito has confirmed that the German manufacturer will start next season's World Rally Championship with just two factory Polo R WRCs.
Capito's predecessor Kris Nissen had spoken of running as many as five Polos through 2013, to incorporate the firm's junior drivers Andreas Mikkelsen, Kevin Abbring and Sepp Wiegand. Now, however, Capito says the number of seats will be slashed.
Capito told German magazine Rallye: "There is a plausible scenario to get even a third car at the start. But only if one has everything under control and everything works the way we imagine. When that happens, whether in 2013 or 2014, really depends on how the progress is within the whole team.
"There is already a growing new generation of young talented drivers. An example is Andreas Mikkelsen, he is a very great talent to the IRC. We are currently working with Andreas Mikkelsen, Kevin Abbring and Sepp Wiegand, but we do not pull three drivers up [at the same time], but one-by-one instead."
Capito refused to be drawn on speculation that Jari-Matti Latvala has signed to drive alongside Sebastien Ogier next year, saying: "The first car is driven by Sebastien Ogier. For the second car, we can not say anything."
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