ARX to Mid-Ohio. Scheider aims for World RX. Bakkerud’s DTM test

6 December ARX and Mid Ohio Sports Car Course agree terms for two Americas Rallycross (ARX) events to take place at the midwestern venue in 2019. The multi-year agreement will cover events with Cooper Tires as the title sponsor. A founding partner in the ARX series, Cooper Tires is based in Ohio. “I think adding more rallycross tracks here in America really shows the growth of this sport,” said 2018 ARX Champion Scott Speed, “I’m excited to come to a new venue. Mid-Ohio is a track that everyone knows here in America. I have no doubt it will be a great event!” The rallycross track will be based aroun the ‘keyhole’ section in turn two of the race circuit. The ARX events will take place on 8-9 June and 5-6 October.

8 December At the FIA Gala in St Petersburg Johan Kristoffersson, Mattias Ekstrom and Andreas Bakkerud collect their trophies as top three in the FIA World Rallycross Championship. Pernilla Solberg accepts the Teams championship trophy for PSRX Volkswagen Sweden.

12 December ES Motorsport-BR Group boss Ernestas Staponkus says he will provide a 500,000 Euro incentive fund for top three results in the 2019 FIA World Rallycross Championship. “You must have a bit of healthy aggression, I would say, if you want to win. If you are not brave enough it’s not going to work. I believe that every driver’s aim is fighting for the victory. But this bonus will help to increase motivation even more. It’s a win-win situation,” said Staponkus. Development driving on the team’s new Skoda Fabia is being carried out by Kevin Abbring.

12 December Timo Scheider expands on his ambition to be a full time World RX racer in 2019. Scheider has already confirmed that he will continue driving with BMW in circuit racing next season but wants to be involved in rallycross into the future. “I still think this is the championship with the most potential for good racing, for exciting racing for race drivers but also for fans,” he said. “A couple of years ago Rene Munnich gave me my first try in World RX and since then we have a pretty good relationship. I would already say we are more than just driver and team boss and this is a connection that could be more interesting for the future. I’d like to drive with Rene, that’s the most realistic for 2019 but how the programme will be we are still working on it.”

13 December Audi Sport details it’s end of year test at Jerez in which Andreas Bakkerud was one of seven drivers to sample DTM machinery for the first time. “For me as a rallycross driver, a completely new chapter. Last week I was able to prepare a little for the test in the simulator at Team Rosberg. Obviously, then driving the RS 5 DTM here on the race track was even quite a bit more impressive. It was hard to believe how late you can brake with the DTM cars. Jamie (Green) and René (Rast) gave me some valuable pointers in this respect. Thank you to (Head of Audi Motorsport) Dieter Gass, Audi Sport and the entire test team for this really cool experience,” said Bakkerud.

Photos ES Motorsport-BR Group / World RX / ARX/ Audi Sport