Once the point of curiosity and surprise in RallyX by punching above his weight, Viktor Vranckx will be part of the championship in 2025 with a step up in his program due to an alliance between his family outfit VMV Racing and the traditional team Hedströms Motorsport, which will put the young Belgian in the cockpit of a rallycross supercar in the expanding competition.
At 19 years old, Vranckx is a proven talent that was once in the road to the World RX, which included the title of the 2022 FIA RX2e season, being mentored by the 2021 RX2e champion and former World RX driver Guillaume de Ridder, but in 2023 this was thrown aside as the Belgian abandoned the season while on the way to possible back to back titles over claims of favoritism to his title rivals in the occasion, given that World RX drivers associated with them were allowed to take part in RX2e rounds while the World RX was at a hiatus due to the Lydden Hill incident with Special ONE Racing.
Vranckx moved to the United States as Nitrocross welcomed him with open arms, ending the 2023/2024 season alongside his mentor in a two car program from VMV Racing, just missing the podium in one occasion while de Ridder got it at the end of the season. The plan was to compete the whole 2024/2025 season in a single car effort from the Belgian team, but then Nitrocross abruptly cut off the season and folded, leaving him with single podium at Richmond, which was his best weekend during his bried stay in the competition.
Back when he was in FIA RX2e, Vranckx used to take in RallyX as preparation for his main focus later in the year, driving the same ZEROID X1 but with more power to make it competitive against the supercar field, and he was able to spark a few surprises despite the apparent deficit of his upgraded machine compared to the 600hp combustion monsters, but this season he moves to the other side of the fence as he will drive a Peugeot 208 WRX in possession of Hedströms Motorsport, which was used by Peter Hedström himself to go to an Euro RX1 final at Höljes in 2024, along with participations in RallyX and the Swedish Rallycross Championship.
The car has some good history before, being the one that Timmy Hansen used to give Johan Kristoffersson a run for his money in the 2021 World RX title race, being passed to Janis Baumanis to compete in the Euro RX1 with YellowSquad and his own RX Team Latvia outfit, improving on his third place in 2021 with ESMotorsport by getting runner-up finishes in 2022 and 2023.
With the car change and a totally different schedule from when Vranckx competed in FIA RX2e, the mentality with which RallyX will be faced off will certainly change too, as it passes from a competitive pre-season to his main game, especially when considering he will be seen in action in both RallyX North and RallyX South, including the round that can be considered home for him as Valkenswaard is basically in the border with Belgium, and is a place where Vranckx spent a lot of time when his career started.
The 2025 RallyX South season starts at Montalegre on 29 and 30 April, which also opens the RallyX Euro calendar.
PHOTOS: VMV Racing, Hedströms Motorsport
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