European Rallycross Champion Larsson and JC Raceteknik enter World RX in Riga
Newly crowned FIA European Rallycross Champion Robin Larsson will race in the Latvian round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship in Riga next week, while JC Raceteknik team mate Mats Öhman will race in the European Championship finale.
For the second time in 2019, Swedish team JC Raceteknik will contest a round of World RX, having made its debut in the sport’s highest level at Spa in Belgium in May, with former DTM and World RX Champion Mattias Ekström. Now, on September 14-15, the team will once again take on the World RX teams and drivers with double European Champion Robin Larsson.
By winning last weekend’s French round of Euro RX, Larsson secured his second European title in the Supercar category with a race to spare. As such he will miss the final round to race in World RX in Riga.
Meanwhile, Mats Öhman, who races for the team full-time in RallyX Nordic, will race in Euro RX in Latvia, his second start of the year at the Bikerneiki circuit.
Joel Christoffersson, Team Principal:
“It will be great fun to be able to race in World RX with Robin this year. Since we secured the European Championship gold in France, we seized this opportunity. It’s a little like a prize for Robin and the whole team to be able to do this. We have had good pace in Euro RX all season, and we were fast in RallyX Nordic in Riga, so it will be fun to see how we get on against the World RX teams. Of course it’s hard to say how it will go, but if we can fight for the top five times I will be very satisfied.
Mats will take Robin's place during the European Championship in Latvia, which will also be fun. Mats had good pace in Riga in RallyX Nordic, and since then we have worked even harder, so we’re excited to get back to that circuit with him.”
Supercar: Robin Larsson (SWE) :
“It will be really fun to be to take this chance and get into the World Championship. I've obviously raced in World RX before, but it will be a little special to make this jump in the middle of the season when the World RX drivers are in a really tight fight in the championship. We have set very good times in the European Championship season, but the very last pieces have to be put together in World RX. It will be exciting to see how we stand against the World RX guys now when we will be up against them. I think you can raise your own level even more when you are fighting to keep up, so maybe we can close the gap more too. The goal is to at least make the semi-finals, and use this as a good event to check our pace.”
Supercar: Mats Öhman (SWE) :
“It will be brilliant fun to drive in Riga. I competed on that track once earlier this year and everything worked out well, so we are looking forward to this. The track in Riga fits this car very well and since the last event, we have worked even more with the setup and further refined my controls to find even more speed on the track. The goal is absolutely to make the semi-finals, and then simply we will see. But, as long as I'm good at the starts, I think it can be a good event. It’s great that Robin has won the European Championships already so he has to the chance to race in World RX. With the speed he has, it's definitely in the World Championship where he belongs.”
