On a weekend of tiny grids at the FIA World Rallycross Championship and in the FIA RX2e Championship, the Euro RX1 Championship was expected to start the 2024 season on a good note, but midweek news saw a bomb being dropped as JC Raceteknik, one of the traditional squads of the competition, pull out their entire Euro RX1 program due to an argument with FIA related to one of their drivers, which is Mats Öhman.
Mats was more than ready for the European season after doing a really good show at Älvsbyn in RallyX, but the organization stopped his plans when the Adaptations Working Group of the FIA Disability and Accessibility Commission refused to give the Certificate of Adaptations to allow Öhman to join the competition, and according to a statement from the team, the changes that the AWG wants to include aren't considered safe for the driver, who is paralyzed from roughly the chest down, so he needs to use special controls to drive his Audi S1 EKS RX, which were developed by himself and the team. In Öhman’s words in the statement, “I feel like they don’t understand my handicap.”
This is a video from some years ago in his old Ford Fiesta RX, but you can understand the whole of Öhman’s hand controls, with the left hand set for the steering as he uses a lever to turn the car, while the right hand takes care of the rest of the car’s motion.
With JC Raceteknik unable to win the case, Joel Christoffersson took the ultimate decision of pulling out the two Audis the team had for the whole season, being one of them the adapted S1 for Mats Öhman and the other S1 set for Jens Hvaal. While the team left their Euro RX1 program behind, they will stay at Höljes as the Swedish Rallycross Championship in action in between the World RX and the support program, with Hvaal being one of their drivers.
It is unclear if the block from FIA AWG extends to the World RX, but JC Raceteknik would likely face the same issues to get Öhman in the grid, so his schedule for the moment remains focused in the current RallyX campaign, which heads for Nysum in August.
PHOTOS: JC Raceteknik / VIDEO: Hugo Mattsson
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