Tohill and Skorupski for LD Motorsports World Rallycross Team

Current FIA European Rallycross TouringCar Champion Derek Tohill and former Super1600 event winner Krzysztof Skorupski will drive for the newly formed LD Motorsports World RX Team in the FIA World Rallycross Championship this season, in a pair of Citroen DS3 Supercars.

The duo will race at the opening round of the MSA British Rallycross Championship this weekend. Irishman Tohill first drove a Supercar last October in the RallycrossRX Prize Drive for winning the TouringCar title, and has been working hard to graduate to Supercar this season;

“We’ve spoken to lots of teams, and what we’ve seen in LD Motorsports, we haven’t seen in other teams. You have to run with you gut feeling. I knew straight away after visiting them, that’s where I wanted to be,” said Tohill. “We’ve known the Doran’s for a long time, I was happy and excited to see what they are doing. They are real rallycross people, they aren’t trying to ride the crest of a wave, like me they have rallycross in their blood. I just can’t wait to get out and race. I’m so pleased we can race this weekend. The British Championship event is just about getting seat time, and theres not better seat time than racing.”

The two-time European TouringCar champion has aspirations for his year in Supercar, but is also realistic about the amount there is to learn in the category;

“Competition is going to be strongest it has ever been this year, and it’s probably going to take me the first half of the season for me to be getting 100% out of everything, as it took Andreas Bakkerud until the second half of the season last year. I think come then, on my day I should be able to beat the best of them. We need to crawl before we run, we are going to be learning in the first half of the year.”

Skorupski has an impressive record in rallycross, he won his first ever European championship event in the Super1600 category at one of the most demanding circuits on the calendar, Holjes in Sweden. The young Polish driver finished second in the championships front-wheel drive category in 2011 and is excited about racing at the highest level of the sport;

“It’s such a big opportunity, my main goal is to get used to the Supercar as quickly as possible, and adjust to the team,” said Krzysztof. “I was very impressed with the way everything worked at the test, and with the level of professional support the team has at their workshop in the UK. Most of all I really love the car. It was a little hard to believe how fast it was, when I drove at the test in France earlier this week. I was pushing myself as much as possible at the test, and I still think I can improve a lot throughout the year.”

The team will run alongside the Monster Energy World RX Team this season, for which team owner Liam Doran will drive, alongside a yet to be confirmed team-mate.

“It’s shaping up to be an absolutely huge year, and signing Derek and Krzysztof is exactly what we need for the LD Motorsports World RX Team; the right mix of experience, speed and talent,” said Doran. “I’m very excited to have Krzysztof on board. It’s great to be able to give a talented young driver the step up in his career he needs, and also help the sport grow. He is just incredibly fast whichever way you look at it. Of course Derek’s past results speak for themselves, but it’s also his consistency and ability to think on his feet that put him over the top. Coming from any category, or class, into Supercar is a big step, but Derek looked at home in the car straight away; I’m confident he’ll be mixing it up at the front when we get to Portugal.

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