WHAT NEXT FOR WORLD RX?
HOWTHESERIESPLANSTOREBOUND
The latter half of the World Rallycross season has undeniably been a difficult period for the series, arguably the most difficult in the five years since the mixedsurface discipline achieved FIA world championship status.
In August, Audi released its 2019 competition strategy in which it declared it will focus on Formula E and DTM. Rallycross didn’t even get a mention in the news release, despite having backed Mattias Ekstrom’s EKS team with factory support since the start of 2017. As the marque had increased its contribution to the Swede’s squad for 2018, the news was a surprise, but not quite as much of a shock as the announcement that followed two months later.
Almost a year after Peugeot had confirmed increased commitment, on the same day ironically that Ford and Ken Block’s Hoonigan Racing Division outfit had pulled the plug on its World RX attempt, the French marque announced that it was terminating its works rallycross programme after the final round in South Africa.
While Audi Sport boss Dieter Gass cited to Motorsport News that “three works programmes was too many to support” and it needed to focus on DTM alongside Formula E as its internal combustion and electric projects, what Audi’s withdrawal really meant was that it wouldn’t be committing to entering the planned electric World RX switch from 2020.
As Audi didn’t sign up for EWRX for the August 15 deadline, VAG Group bedfellow Volkswagen didn’t sign either, although, according to Volkswagen Motorsport boss Sven Smeets, only because it knew there were not enough marques (the minimum required number of three) ready to put pen to paper.
Peugeot did sign, but when the FIA and World RX promotor were forced to delay the electric introduction until 2021 to give manufacturers more time, Peugeot – which like Audi had been a vocal advocate of the concept since talks were initiated – decided that the discipline no longer fitted within its marketing timeframe. Having plugged its SUV range with its Dakar programme, Peugeot had switched to rallycross, taking its support of Kenneth Hansen’s team in house for a full factory effort. The plan was two years in the current series, then to launch an electric 208 road car in 2020, marketed by its rallycross effort.
“Peugeot will concentrate its resources on developing new [electric sports] vehicles and has therefore decided to withdraw from the WRX championship at the end of the 2018 season, whose evolution towards electrification is uncertain,” said Peugeot brand boss Jean-philippe Imparato when the news was released. “This announcement is not linked with our results in the competition or our drivers. The decision to stop WRX appears as very brutal, but my mission as a CEO is to make decisions at the right moment to ensure the sustainability of the company.”
Independent outfit Olsbergs MSE also announced in October that it would again withdraw from World RX for the second time in three years, having returned in 2018 with a new Ford Fiesta ST. The Swedish-based firm cited rising costs, and an intention to step away while focusing on finding a manufacturer to buddy up with for an EWRX entry. Then, at the end of the season, half an hour after yet another defeat from the dominant force of 2018, PSRX Volkswagen driver Johan Kristoffersson, 2016 champion Ekstrom announced he was ending his full-time driving career with immediate effect.
If the timing of the double DTM champion’s decision was unexpected, the decision itself was unsurprising. Since he claimed the 2016 title without works-support, the Swede had reiterated time and time again that he wouldn’t continue to drive without that kind of back-up. With Audi on the move, he kept his word and closed his rallycross chapter.
At this stage, the future of the EKS squad is undecided. Ekstrom owns the cars, but Audi has dibs on its engines so an agreement needs to be met before deals with customers either renting the seats or buying the cars can progress.
There has been a clear divide in pace and performance between the three manufacturer supported efforts in World RX in 2018 and the private squads.
Volkswagen’s customary ability to enter any given series and become dominant won’t have helped, but that VW’S form was a precursor for Audi and Peugeot’s departure is largely unfounded. While Kristoffersson won 11 of the 12 rounds this year, team-mate Solberg netted only five podiums and finished fifth in the points. On fastest lap time pace alone – taking an average across the campaign – the 208 and S1 were within 0.2s of the Polo, which in rallycross is far less significant than on an all-asphalt race circuit. But the Polo, coupled with a seriously in-form Kristoffersson, proved near unbeatable.
So, what of the future for World RX? In the immediate term, the question raised most is of who will be on the grid in 2019. But there’s a bigger picture, and really it hinges on the proposed 2021 propulsion switch.
The EWRX deadline for the minimum of three manufacturers to sign up is March 29 next year, but in order for Volkswagen to maintain its support for Solberg’s PSRX concern, it needs a clear indication about the future before then, according to Norway’s most successful world champion ( see Sporting Scene, page 29).
Prior to Peugeot’s departure, Smeets had gone on record as being comfortable with the delayed timeline for EWRX. The question now hangs over if there are two other marques ready to join too.
Having stated that the uncertainty over the future of the powertrain package in World RX as a reason for “pausing” its programme at the end of ’17 (although Ken Block’s new Amazon Prime Gymkhana Files series suggests it was more that the American star was frustrated at
“Three works operations are too much” Dieter Gass
being unable to fight for the title) Ford has been on the list of those interested in joining EWRX for some time, and World RX’S managing director Paul Bellamy says talks are still progressing.
“Peugeot [leaving] was a total shock for sure, but they’ve pulled out of all motorsports as a works team,” says Bellamy. “We were talking with them about electric right up until the last minute. It is frustrating but that happens in life. We’re talking to VW at high levels every week. For them it’s very clear, it’s all about electric in the future. From our perspective, when Peugeot pulled out we carried on with our plans for 2021. There’s a couple of other manufacturers as well, one is totally new and the other isn’t a surprise.”
Asked about the 2019 line-up, Bellamy says: “It’s always the same at this time of year, teams are looking at their budgets and they’re all trying to push the dial in terms of being better. Car numbers; if everybody comes in you could end up at 17 or 18 cars, with the people who are saying they will be in for next year you could be at 13 or 14. I’m confident that we’ll have a good line-up.”
There are, however, two years of competition before 2021 – if EWRX does go ahead. Of the existing outfits, GC Kompetition entered a multi-year programme with its Prodrive-built Renault Meganes at the start of 2018 and is expecting to return next year with at least two cars. “Collectively the teams are looking to make some changes to the regulations and operations in the championship to fit their budgets which are coming under a bit more pressure,” says team manager Karl O’sullivan.
“It’s a challenging time for motorsport everywhere but we have been very clear from the start that this is a long-term programme and we are bang where we want to be, we are going into the off season and looking at a round one next year [in Abu Dhabi] that’s going to be new for everybody and we’re seeing opportunity. We’re all in.”
Marcus Gronholm’s GRX squad is also working to return to the fold with its Wrc-derived Hyundai i20 Supercars. “That’s not nice [that Audi and Peugeot have left]. Next year everything is a little bit open, but I hope we can be there and I hope the championship will be good and have some good drivers and teams,” says the two-time WRC champion. “We have just done one year now so we have everything in place and we can improve the car a bit. The target is to try to be back and to do a new season.”
While the team currently doesn’t have factory Hyundai support, the Finn hasn’t given up on securing increased backing in the future. “I would like to have a test car next year, so the drivers can drive more. So it’s a possibility we can run three cars sometimes,” he notes.
Manfred Stohl’s STARD team ran just one car full-time in 2018, down from two the previous year, but will build new cars this winter. It’s the producer of the only publicly-aired electric rallycross Supercar prototype to-date, so is keen to remain in the series, not least to prepare for a possible 2021 entry, and is working on retaining Latvian driver Janis Baumanis and filling a second car.
Then there’s the works-built Peugeot 208s. Based on the cars used this year alone, it can be assumed that there are at least six 2018 cars sitting in Velizy that will otherwise be gathering dust. Both Sebastien Loeb – whose own squad started what was planned to be a multiyear programme in World RX this year with Gregoire Demoustier – and Kenneth Hansen are in talks with Peugeot about the possibility of taking over the running of the cars. Seemingly there are enough to go around, if deals can be got together.
ES Motorsport is preparing to compete with a new Skoda Fabia next term, which will likely be piloted by Nasser Al-attiyah, while sometime rallycross driver Timo Scheider, who has increasingly strong links with Rene Munnich’s Munnich Motorsport squad, has hinted at a full-time return.
This winter will be a decisive period for the future of World RX. The series has enjoyed a steady upward trajectory since 2014 and, as Solberg has iterated, clarification on the electric transition is set to play a significant role in the next chapter. ■