WORTHERSEE 2018: Volkswagen teases Golf GTI TCR

Volkswagen has continued its time-honoured tradition of revealing a concept for a faster Golf GTI at the annual Worthersee VW fan meet held in Austria.

Teasing pictures of the Golf GTI TCR it plans to reveal, the German car-maker say it has created a road-legal version of the race car that it competes in Touring Car Racing.

Taming the race car's 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder's 275kW/420Nm to a rather more sedate 213kW/370Nm, the TCR concept gets both a front locking differential and seven-speed dual-clutch transmission.

Complimenting the power and torque increase over the standard Golf GTI, VW has chosen to junk the speed-limiter, enabling the TCR to top out at 264km/h -- eclipsing the Golf Clubsport S to make it the fastest Golf GTI of all time.

Among other changes, the Golf GTI TCR appears to pay homage to the race car's more squat proportions with a slightly wider front and track.

Looking more special-edition than track-bred monster, however, the road-going TCR doesn't come close to matching the real TCR's epic motorsport-derived aerodynamics.

Riding considerably higher than the racer, it's TCR is very unlikely to come with the latter's powerful six-piston brakes.

Set to make its debut at the Lake Worthersee festival on May 9, it's thought the Golf GTI TCR will arrive in European showrooms towards the end of this year.

There's no news on whether the Golf GTI TCR is destined for Australia.