The driving force behind Ford’s first Focus RS and F-150 Raptor has now been tasked with churning out high-performance Volkswagens, including the next Golf R.

We’re talking about motorsport veteran Jost Capito who has quit his job as CEO of the McLaren Formula One team to return to the VW fold as the new boss of Volkswagen R.

He will also run VW’s in-house accessories division, Volkswagen Zubehör, perhaps signaling a new line of performance accessories coming down the line.

2018 Volkswagen Golf R

2018 Volkswagen Golf R

Volkswagen R’s lineup at present consists solely of the Golf R. Just as he did during his years at Ford, Capito will look to expand this. A T-Roc R is rumored to be in the works and we could also see a Touareg R evoking the prior decade’s Touareg R50.

Capito only joined McLaren’s struggling F1 team a year ago. Prior to that he led VW’s hugely successful World Rally Championship team, though sadly the team was disbanded soon after Capito left for McLaren. The move was part of VW’s cost-cutting measures following the diesel scandal.

Prior to running VW’s WRC team, Capito was in charge of Ford’s SVT division. In 2015, SVT was folded up together with Ford Racing and RS into Ford Performance which currently serves as the sole go-fast division at the Blue Oval.