Olbergs MSE chooses Honda Civic for World RX return

After the single and shocking appearance at the Höljes RX last year, Olsbergs MSE and its winning driver Sebastian Eriksson were never seen again in the FIA World Rallycross Championship, but this will change in the shortened 2020 season, and it won’t be the only change for the Swedish outfit.

While the Olsbergs Fiesta Mk 8 RX is still alive and kicking, the Nynäshamn-based team will keep this machine for the Euro RX in terms of international entries, while for the World RX the car that will be used is the Honda Civic Coupé RX, which has a long time history with the team, though its homologation to the World Rallycross is quite recent.

After leaving the United States once the GRC folded, the Olbergs Civic spent time in RallyX Nordic along the Fiesta, and Oliver Eriksson came really close to give a title for the Japanese/Swedish car, missing it in the final lap of the RallyX Nordic finale at Tierp last year. In the World stage, Ulrik Linnemann aligned a Civic at the same Höljes RX that Sebastian Eriksson won, but failed to achieve a proper result.

Olsbergs MSE was a World RX regular, missing only the 2017 and 2019 seasons, and while having full time drivers in their machinery, which comprises two generations of the Ford Fiesta, other drivers made part time efforts or even one-offs in their spare cars, but supporting full time and part time campaigns in the supercars didn’t stop them from taking the first World RX teams championship in 2014. It also gave the first opportunity to some of the current World RX talents in the supercar class, like the current runner-up Andreas Bakkerud.

 

Seb Eriksson is attacking the Höljes RX double-header for no less than victory, which would make for back to back triumphs with different cars, though he knows about the challenge that the current World RX field offers, especially because of the RallyX Nordic opener at the same circuit, where he faced some of his opponents as they were doing their preparations too. According to him, confidence in the Civic’s performance is high as he said the lap times were similar to the Fiesta, and with upgrades being done in recent months, it should be enough to achieve their goals at home soil.

The Höljes RX double-header opens the 2020 World RX season on 22^nd and 23^rd August.

PHOTOS - Olsbergs MSE