Dodge Dart Rallycross programme to launch on Monday?

Back in January [Pastrana to GRC in Dodge Dart?] we told you that we expected Dodge to announce that it would participate in the Global Rallycross Championship with its new Dart model. The Fiat-owned American manufacturer has now scheduled a press launch for Monday, but has revealed no details beyond “The Dodge Brand and SRT Motorsports are expanding their presence into a new race venture with the all-new 2013 Dodge Dart!” SRT (Street and Racing Technology) is a brand of the Chrysler group used within its motor sport activities.

As we said in January, Travis Pastrana and Samuel Hübinette have been linked with the project. Neither man, nor Rallycross, are currently featured in the roster of drivers or championships contested by Dodge. The Dodge press call says its “new driver” will be announced and Hübinette appears to have confirmed his own involvement with an announcement on his own website to say that he will not return to the Formula Drift championship, where he drove with Dodge, this year: “Two of our main sponsors changed their marketing direction, so we decided that the best thing to do with the Dodge Challenger SHR drift car is to focus on doing demos. For competition, we’re pursuing opportunities in Rallycross and off-road truck…” the statement said. Pastrana, meanwhile, has also aligned himself with Rallycross. Last month he said: “…my main focus is in NASCAR in the Nationwide Series but with only seven races guaranteed through the sponsorship … it helped a lot with the sponsors to still do X Games and Rallycross…”

If other details we’ve picked up about the Dodge Dart turn out to be true, then this is going to be a newcomer to the sport that will hit the ground running, but for now it seems prudent to keep that information under our hat and let Dodge do the talking on Monday. The press launch is scheduled for 0930 EDT (1530 CET).

This slideshow requires JavaScript.