Audi enters World RX with S1 19 | 01 | 2017
AUDI HAS CONFIRMED it is entering the FIA World Rallycross Championship (World RX) by providing factory support to Mattias Ekström’s rallycross project EKS. This means Audi Sport will now be competing in Formula E, DTM and World RX in 2017.
Long-standing Audi factory driver Ekström (below) formed EKS at the beginning of 2014, subsequently winning both the drivers’ and the teams’ world championships last year in his Audi S1 EKS RX quattro.
“We realise it’s going to be increasingly difficult for EKS to hold its own against the factory teams, so we chose to intensify our World RX commitment,” Dieter Gass, head of Audi Motorsport, said.
And Ekström, understandably, was delighted with Audi’s new commitment.
“We laid a lot of groundwork as a team in the first three years, gathered important experiences and set new standards with EKS,” the Swede explained.
“But it was also clear to us that we’d need support for the future in order to be able to continue on this level. That EKS is now receiving factory backing by Audi makes me very happy. I’m convinced rallycross has a great future, also with respect to potential electrification.”
While EKS already had access to Audi Sport suppliers and partners before, the further technical development of the all-wheel driven Audi S1 EKS RX quattro will now take place with support from the motorsport department of Audi.
Alongside his factory-backed involvement in the FIA World Rallycross Championship, Ekström will be also retained by Audi as a DTM driver. The Swede has extended his driver agreement, tackling his 17th DTM season in 2017.
“I have good prospects in the DTM and would like to become champion for the third time,” the 2004 and 2007 DTM champion said.
The news about Audi follows hot on the heels of Petter Solberg and Johan Kristoffersson’s announcement last week that the new two-car team will include technical support from Volkswagen Motorsport in Germany.
The opening round of the 2017 FIA World Rallycross Championship will begin in Barcelona (April 1-2). The World Championship consists of 12 legs and concludes in Cape Town, South Africa.
Related: 2017 Audi Q5 from £37,170
Keep up-to-date with all the latest news by following us on twitter.com/Scotcars
Jim McGill