Out of the four confirmed squads in the 2022 FIA World Rallycross Championship grid, the newly formed CE Dealer Team is the third to confirm the drivers for the season and the second to do it in its entirety, with a young pair that’s really dedicated to rallycross.
To the surprise of some, the names chosen for the effort were Niclas Grönholm and Klara Andersson, which somehow complement each other in the technical aspect, being led by Grönholm’s wingman and team director Jussi Pinomäki, who is the mastermind behind the Finn’s efforts with GRX and SET Promotion. Although not entirely clear, the announcement confirms that GRX or SET Promotion won’t be in action at the World stage, or at least not by themselves.
Grönholm’s experience in the World RX, which dates back to 2015 in the RX1 cars alone, will prove to be crucial to show the ways around the grid to Klara, who joins with her recent mileage in the RX2e class, meaning she knows some of the fundamentals to handle the 680 hp RX1e machines, although she recognized that the team will certainly have to start almost from scratch in a new era for the discipline.
Despite the fact that both Grönholm and Andersson will have new experiences in the RX1e cars, the Finn surely sets the bar high for the Swede, coming from a third place finish last season with three victories in five podiums, missing the finals only three times, his best RX1 season in the World stage.
Andersson, on the other hand, comes to gloriously defy odds in her meteoric rise, coming from a Swedish title in the SM 2150 to a fourth place finish in her RX2e debut at Spa-Francorchamps, which was also her international debut, which shows that the talent is a family thing, since her sister Magda was a Euro RX Touring Car runner-up in 2015, which gave her access to two full seasons in the FIA Euro RX1 Championship.
The CE Dealer Team duo joins Timmy and Kevin Hansen and also Johan Kristoffersson as the confirmed drivers for the 2022 season, which starts at Höljes on 3 July.
PHOTO: CE Dealer Team
Comments
Post a Comment
Do you have an opinion? Feel free to comment.