MOTORSPORT: Hyundai man Atkinson in a VW

Chris Atkinson will give a new Prodrive-built Volkswagen Golf rally car its debut in China this weekend, but Hyundai vows it doesn't mean the end of the Australian's involvement in Hyundai's world rallying efforts.

Hyundai this week extended the contract of Spanish driver Dani Sordo for another two years, including at least 10 of the 13 world championship rounds next season, as teammate to its lead driver Thierry Neuville.

Belgian Neuville and Sordo finished first and second in the German round of the WRC in August – the only one this year not won by VW.

Atkinson, who drove for the Prodrive-run Subaru World Rally Team for four years until the global financial crisis brought its closure, joined Hyundai 15 months ago in a test role and has driven at Rally Australia and Rally Mexico in a Hyundai i20 this season.

Sordo, Frenchman Bryan Bouffier, Finn Juho Hanninen and New Zealander Hayden Paddon also have been part-timers for Hyundai in its return to the WRC – after a decade's absence – with its i20.

All have been given greater opportunities than Atkinson, whose prospects with Hyundai have looked slim of late, after finishes of 10th in Australia and seventh in Mexico.

Asked whether the drive in China's Longyou Rally in the VW Golf signalled the end of Atkinson's association with Hyundai, a spokesman for the Korean manufacturer's WRC team, Thomas Villette, declared not.

"Drivers who participated in a few events with us this year have always been free to run rallies with other brands – for example, Bryan Bouffier in Monte Carlo in a Ford and 'Atko' in Asia," Villette said.

"This policy helps to make some mileage [for part-time drivers], which is good for both the driver and the team.

"In the case of Chris, he told us about this private programme in a Prodrive-prepared rally car and we confirm it does not end our relationship for eventual discussions in 2015."

Among various options, a move to the American-based Global Rallycross series has been mooted for Atkinson – approaching his 35th birthday at the end of this month.

He has said that rally drivers are better suited to the European-based World Rallycross Championship that began this year.

Prodrive says its VW Golf SCRC has been "built to the spirit of the WRC regulations" but it could be re-engineered for either of the rallycross series in which competition is shorter, more action-packed and with much more powerful cars than traditional rallying.

The SCRC has a 2.0-litre turbocharged engine with a 35mm restrictor compared to the 1.6-litre, 33mm-restricted engines of the latest WRC cars such as VW's dominant Polo R.

The Golf has the same six-speed sequential Xtrac gearbox and rear differential found in most WRC cars. Its suspension is Macpherson strut front and rear with Prodrive-Ohlins dampers and hydraulic compression stops. Many of the suspension components – including the anti-roll bars and uprights – are interchangeable front to rear to minimise the number of spares. The car also has a standard AP Racing WRC brake package.

The bodywork is predominantly the standard steel panels from a five-door Golf, but with specially-developed flexible carbon composite front and rear bumpers and wings.

The Longyou Rally is China's round of the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship, a series Atkinson won two years ago in a Skoda, but he will compete only in the Chinese championship round at this weekend's event in the Zhejiang province in the country's east, 400 kilometres from Shanghai.

Prodrive's John Gaw said there was "more freedom in the Chinese regulations" and that had enabled the company to create the SCRC in just six months.

Prodrive developed what it calls a "generic rally car model" that optimised every aspect of a car's performance for competition before creating its MINI John Cooper Works WRC car several years ago.

"While the first [Golf SCRC] cars will initially compete in China, the car can readily be modified to compete in most 'open' class rally series, of which there are many in Europe, Asia and North America," Gaw said

"The team that has designed and engineered the Golf SCRC worked on both the MINI WRC and later versions of the Subaru Impreza WRC.

"Everything we know about rallying has gone into making this Golf and we believe it is the best rally car we've ever made."

The SCRC will be fielded by China's FAW-VW Rally Team representing the First Auto World Group and Volkswagen joint venture now producing more than a million cars a year in that country.