Volland Racing to run four cars in European Rallycross

German Super1600 experts Volland Racing will run four Skoda Fabia’s in the 2014 FIA European Rallycross Championship. Led by former rallycross champion and preparation expert Rolf Volland, the team have been busy over the winter months building new cars and upgrading existing machines.

“We have done a lot of upgrades over the last few months, everything is looking good for 2014,” said Volland, who will continue to run Russian driver Sergej Zagumennov who showed well in several RallycrossRX events last season. “Zagumennov’s car has been brought up to 2014 specification, and so has the car of Kasperas Navickas, who raced at the final round in Germany last season. He is very good, he was leading the semi-final there until he was pushed off. We have brought his car up to current specification too. He is only 17 years old, and very quick so he will be exciting.”

While Volland’s team will look after drivers who have already sampled the thrill of competing in RallycrossRX, they will also stable two new drivers in the series;

“We will be working with two other Russian guys. There is a funny story about one of them. Nikita Misyulya, a young guy, came to buy a seat in Germany last year, but the place was shut. He called me to ask what I was doing at the weekend. I told him I was going to European Rallycross in Hungary and he said he would like to come – so he came with me. He loved every second of it. He has been doing the Lada Grande Cup in Russia. Last year was his first experience of racing. He told me that he would win the championship. I told him that everybody wanted that and I didn’t think that would be possible with no experience, but he did it. He’s amazing.”

On the back of his Lada Grande Cup title, Misyulya has also won a test and race with the works Lada WTCC Team. The youngster has bought the Super1600 Fabia of fellow countryman Vadim Makarov, had it upgraded by Volland to the latest specification and begun testing. The Russian has clearly impressed his German engineer, with not only his driving ability but also his commitment to the cause. “We have been testing for two days so far, he hasn’t done any damage to the car, and hasn’t even spun once. From the start he was as fast as the other guys. He’s also made a video to appeal to sponsors for money for him to race (see below). He decided to do it, even though he has never tried singing before and it has worked already – people are already responding to the video and giving him money.”

One of the major benefits for drivers who drive with Volland Racing is not only the high level of car preparation and experience, but also that Volland himself works for Audi with their ‘Driving Experience’ as an instructor, something that his drivers get benefit from too; “My race drivers get to learn from the Audi Driving Experience too, along with our other testing. Misyulya for instance will be doing ice driving in Finland and Austria this winter, and a month of driving in Russia just for him to get a feel of the car. His balance and control is already excellent, he was on the Russian National Bike Team. But, you can’t have too much time in the car, you are always learning something.”

With a line-up that could shake up the Super1600 category in 2014, Volland has realistic aspirations; “We have two very young guys, and only one who has real rallycross experience. Podiums at events would be brilliant, but we will just see how things will be. There are a lot of hard guys to beat in Super1600, but we will be trying hard.”

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[tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djwewefPKHE[/tube]