Junior racers to get six 2012 ERC rounds

A new Junior Rallycross concept aimed at the European Rallycross Championship has been launched today. Publicly unveiled at a presentation on the closing morning of the annual FIA Off-Road prize-giving, held at Riga in Latvia this year, the proposed class is aimed at 14-18-year-olds and is based on a one-make spaceframe racecar with tightly controlled technical specifications and high safety standards.

The ‘JRX’ concept is being proposed by MAKS Events, a company that includes Frenchman Marc Laboulle and Swede Kenneth Hansen, among others. The car will use a spaceframe chassis and a 600cc, two-cylinder engine similar to those used in snowmobiles. Power is rated at 125bhp, the cars will have four-wheel drive and weigh 500kg. The composite bodies for the car have been designed so that they will resemble a number of different body types currently used in the Supercar class, Ford Fiesta, Citroën DS3 and Škoda Fabia among them, what is described as a “mini me” concept. It was claimed by the MAKS representatives that the ‘JRX Cup’ vehicles will have about 2/3 of the size of the original cars.

Cars will be offered for sale and on an arrive and drive basis with MAKS events setting up a network of national dealers. Agents for France, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Germany are already in place. The plan is to launch the series in the summer and for it to appear at the last six rounds of the 2012 ERC, starting with round five at the Lånkebanen at Hell in Norway.

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