OMSE shines the Lites on rallycross Youth

OMSE has named a squad of four young drivers for its campaign in RX Lites this year, the quartet led by 2014 champion Kevin Eriksson who returns to the series to defend his rallycross title.  “We believe in creating opportunities for young drivers to shine,” said OMSE team owner Andreas Eriksson, “We designed the Lites car to provide a platform for emerging talent and we remain committed to that philosophy in 2015 with a full roster of Lites drivers competing on our international team.” Eriksson faces a full season, alongside defending his RX Lites Cup title at World RX events he will race a Supercar in Rally X Scandinavia events. He will be joined on the RX Lites Cup trail by Sandra Hultgren.  “The cars in the Lites competition are all identical so it levels the playing field and puts the focus completely on the driving. I’m excited by that challenge,” she said. Meanwhile in America Austin Cindric and Oliver Eriksson will leads the OMSE challenge in GRC events.

Swift Sport Rallycross champion Tristan Ovenden will become the first British driver to race in the RX Lites Cup when he drives in his home event at Lydden next month. “I did the RX Lites test at Istanbul Park in December … and when the opportunity came to race at Lydden I worked hard to find the budget. I would just like to be competitive with the regular drivers in the championship and put on some good racing for my home crowd.” said Ovenden.

British team JRM Racing confirmed the participation of American cross-over stars Dave Mirra and Danny Way in World RX. The pair will drive JRM’s new MINI RX under the Team USRX banner in the second round of the championship at Hockenheim next week, with the expectation that they will contest more events. “Dave and Danny watched the development of World RX in 2014 and were hugely impressed. They want to be part of the series in the future so Hockenheim is a good event for them to get a feel for the series and our MINI. We hope there will be an opportunity to run them both on more rounds in 2015, with the goal of pulling together a full-season programme in 2016,” said JRM Executive Director, James Rumsey.

Buttons at Skegness was the unlikely destination for MCN Live last weekend, the popular event also featuring some four-wheeled action with RX150s taking part in demo races on the beach. RX150 rallycross champion Marc Scott and Euro RX racer James Grint were among the drivers to take part in the event.

Ireland’s new rallycross track at Tynagh in County Galway is ready for its first event on May 10 where Geoffery Dolan is set to lead the entry with his Supercar Opel Astra.

Super1600 driver Janis Baumanis starts the European season aiming for the title after his strong debut last year. He is also running a “Fans competition” to win a free trip to FIA World Rallycross Championship event in Italy. The competition will run through Baumanis’  Facebook and Twitter pages.

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