It will take time to see how the class of 2021 of the renewed FIA World Rallycross Championship will be, while the RallyX Nordic grid gets more entries as time goes by, but one thing is certain, and is the presence of the Belgian driver Enzo Ide in both.
The former GT3 driver and GT World Challenge Europe champion is a recent convert to rallycross, with only a few races under his belt, all in the EKS JC Audi S1 EKS RX that he will drive this year, with the team owned by Joel Christoffersson taking the decision of strengthening its ties with the EKS outfit of World RX and DTM champion Mattias Ekström.
A curious fact is that Ide is the latest driver of a list of names that drove GT3s for the Belgian squad WRT and then tried their luck in rallycross, which includes Ekström, Edward Sandström and Nico Müller. While WRT may haven’t influenced their decisions, the Vincent Vosse-led team also had a shot in rallycross in the snow at the Andros Trophy, which is similar to RallyX On Ice, the winter championship of RallyX Nordic.
The idea is to put Ide in both World RX and RallyX Nordic in a full season basis, which is actually not a surprising move in rallycross, and although some World RX drivers found themselves also competing at national championship like the British RX or RallyX Nordic, it’s more of a common move for Euro RX drivers, with the nordic competition being the preferred destination, turning it in the strongest national rallycross competition in Europe.
Some drivers even done double duty with other types of circuit racing, as done by STCC and World champion Johan Kristoffersson, and even Ekström himself when he had World RX and DTM races in his schedule. The most recent example of success in double duty comes from EKS JC, as Robin Larsson clinched both the Euro RX and RallyX Nordic titles in 2019.
As reveled by Ide himself, he would have liked to do this way before, but some circumstances were in the way of the plan, and the full time entries are first to gather more rallycross experience, as he’s being doing only sporadic appearances.
At least at nordic level, Ide won’t be alone, with Sondre Evjen returning to EKS JC after a two year spell with Kristoffersson Motorsport, which was his move from RX2 to the Supercar class and consequently to the Euro RX.
While the World RX, which will start on 13 June at Hell, only features Ide in the grid, RallyX Nordic, which will start on 1 and 2 May, has names like Jamaican rising star Fraser McConnell, former World RX driver Csucsu and RallyX Nordic regular Ulrik Linnemann, only to name a few.
PHOTO: EKS JC
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