Volkswagen Amarok V6: World Time Attack contender in the works

Volkswagen Australia is calling on its apprentices to prepare a race-ready version of the Amarok V6 ute for this year's World Time Attack Challenge next month.

If you've been wondering what Volkswagen's response to news of the upcoming Ford Ranger Raptor would be, this might be it. 

But wait, it gets crazier. The goal, Volkswagen say, is to create a performance ute concept capable of beating the 1-minute 59-second lap time the company set with its Golf GTI hot hatch.

To tackle the project, Volkswagen Australia has selected three high-performing apprentices from the company's local dealer network, along with the cohort from its inaugural 'Modern Apprentice Program'.

The concept will be based on the Amarok V6 Highline 4x4 ute, which in standard form pumps out 165kW of power and 550Nm of torque.

"Volkswagen has a long history of building apprentice concept cars for the annual GTI Conference at Lake Worthersee, Austria, and the cars have always been met with much excitement and fanfare," said Kurt McGuinness, project lead and public relations manager for Volkswagen Australia.

"But, this is Australia – the biggest export market in the world for the Amarok – why not up the ante and have our apprentices build something that will excite and inspire Australian fans?”

Supplier companies like Bilstein Suspension, Michelin, V-Sport, AP Racing and Shane's Signs are all sponsoring the project.

The concept ute will make its debut at this year's World Time Attack Challenge at Eastern Creek, which kicks off on Friday, October 13.

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