Italian team plans European rallycross success

In recent history, the Super1600 category in the FIA European Rallycross Championship has been somewhat dominated by Scandinavians and Russians, driving for well established Euro RX outfits such as Set Promotion or Volland Racing.

In a refreshing change from teams and drivers being from the North of the continent, Italian squad Tedak Racing entered rallycross last year with a pair of Super1600 Renault Clios, as a toe-in-the water exercise. The team enjoyed it, so much so that for 2015 Tedak built a brand new car for former Italian rally driver, Davide Medici.

The new Clio 3 was finished just days before the opening round of the season in Portugal, where Medici admits to struggling in the changeable conditions. This season isn’t about shock results for the Italian’s though; it’s about learning and becoming more experienced for a championship assault next year. “The car was very, very new in Portugal. We didn’t have any time to test before we used it – it was finished just one week before the first event and the first test was really in Portugal. In Portugal it was very difficult, for the first time with the new car it would have been better to have sunshine, but we knew then that the car felt very good,” explains Medici, who earned a number of podiums in the Italian Rally Championship driving a variety of cars, including a Peugeot 207 Super2000 and a Renault Clio Super1600 – similar to Tedak’s 2014 rallycross machine.

“We are doing the full championship [this year]. We’re doing more and more kilometres with the car. It has been designed and built by Tedak Racing, and almost every part is new. It’s a lot bigger than the previous Clio we used, it’s right to the regulation width of Super1600 so it has a lot more stability,” says Medici, who is also learning about driving in rallycross. “The mentality is very different in rallycross than in rallying, I still need to learn more. It’s the same but at the same time different, but it’s a lot of fun! Rallycross is a sprint, a very fast battle.”

The last round in Germany was the strongest to date for the Tedak squad and Medici. He qualified fifth at the Intermediate Classification but was involved in contact with another car and the one barrier in the first semi-final, without which he may well have made the final. “We’re very happy. The teams and drivers are at very high level; but we have improved with every race very. In Germany we were among the top drivers in all four heats. Then in the semi-finals, we had an accident. That doesn’t help the budget. The result is because of how much development has been done to the car since Portugal, it’s improving all the time. The team have done a lot of work to the chassis and engine, but also the weight distribution and this has given great results in terms of performance.”

The Swedish round of the World Rallycross Championship this weekend at Holjes also includes the fourth round of the Euro RX Super1600 championship. Medici thinks when everything goes right, a podium is possible, but says the Tedak team will continue to focus on preparation for the future. “In 2015, set-by-step and race-to race-we are preparing to run for a full season next year. With a new car it’s not possible to win, but we are always learning. For us the races this year are all new, but in Germany it was new too and we could have been fighting for the podium. We aim to win, but since it’s a bit early to win – the podium in Sweden would be good.”

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