EKS JC target World RX. German talent search. RX2e testing. N5 in RX Italia

19 February EKS and JC Raceteknik announce that they will join forces for various racing projects from 2021. “I founded the EKS team in 2014 with an ambition to win races and championships, and we achieved that in 2016, by winning Driver’s and Team’s titles. And during the 2019 & 2020 JC Raceteknik have taken our cars to the top of Nordic, European and World championships,” said Mattias Ekstrom. JC Raceteknik used EKS Audis to win the 2020 FIA World Rallycross Championship for Teams and its founder Joel Christoffersson becomes Team Manager for EKS JC. “Me and Mattias share the same mindset and attitude for the sport. This is one of the main reasons why our cooperation has been so successful so far and that has become a solid foundation for joining forces for the future. For 2021 for sure we want to focus on FIA WorldRX and we want to win not only the Team’s title, but a Driver’s one as well. We are also looking into more projects to expand our operation in multiple disciplines,” said Christoffersson. The first event for EKS JC is this weekend’s Arctic Rally Finland, round two of the FIA World Rally Championship.

23 February The German Rallycross Championship is running “RX-Academy Young Talent Days” at the Estering on 26 and 27 March. The Deutsche Rallycross Meisterschaft / DRX event will offer a full introduction to rallycross with practical and theory sessions covering marketing and fitness as well as driving style analysis of onboard video. Applications are open until 10 March.

23 February The ACI Sport Italian Rallycross Championship (RX Italia) will include a new category for ‘N5’ cars this year. N5 cars are four-wheel drive cars close in performance to an R5, but around half the price of an R5. They can be built on any four-seater production car and use single-supplier subframes to mount the engine and running gear. In rallies N5 is around 1.5s per km slower than R5. Championship organisers hope the new category will encourage growth in the Italian Championship.

24 February The new FIA RX2e Championship releases details of its first group test. Seven drivers were able to sample the car at Calafat in Catalunya. Young Norwegian Ole-henry Steinsholt has already raced in Britain’s Juior series as well events in his home country and the FIA European Rallycross Championship for Super1600 and is now looking at RX2e as the next step in career path. “Overall, the test was really encouraging, and I am working hard to make it onto the starting grid for what is sure to be a very exciting first season in RX2e. Whether you like it or not, electric is definitely the future of motor sport. If and when the manufacturers return to rallycross, I believe this is the only way,” he said. The test also included a number of Spanish drivers, a nation that has been notably absent from top line rallycross, including former Spanish Rally Champion Ivan Ares.

The Courses des Pilotes Legendaires event scheduled to take place at Essay in March has been moved to a new date of 16-17 October. Remaining at Essay, the event is planned to include on-track action over two days, practice on Saturday with races on Sunday and is open to drivers of ‘historic’ rallycross cars.

Geoff Reynolds We are sad to note the death of Geoff Reynolds on 21 February. A regular competitor in British rallycross through the 1980s, finishing his career with a Fiesta, Reynolds was among many who progressed from autocross.

2021 season    Revised dates for RX Italia have been added to our guide of rallycross events for 2021. We will keep this as up to date as possible and add further dates and events as details become available. We hope that everyone has the chance to get out there and see some rallycross this year.