WORLD RX TESTING KICKS OFF IN LOHEAC

Wednesday 7th of March 2018

The 2018 FIA World Rallycross Championship is GO. Well, almost.

The first official test of the season was held at Loheac in France today (Wednesday, March 67), the circuit that will host round eight of World RX this year in September.

Seven cars completed a total of 284 laps in a range of track conditions from damp to wet and then dry.

Here’s a summary of the teams’ running:

PSRX Volkswagen Sweden

Two-time World Rallycross Champion Petter Solberg completed 52 laps in the PSRX Volkswagen Sweden Polo Supercar, which was seen in public for the first time at Mettet in Belgium last month. Reigning World Rallycross Champion Johan Kristofferssson will take the wheel tomorrow.

EKS Audi Sport

EKS Audi Sport released its new Audi S1 quattro Supercar with a Facebook video before running began at Loheac. When the car made its first appearance from the EKS paddock area, the Loheac fans got their first sight of the radical new rear spoiler arrangement and rear intakes in the roof and rear windows. Apart from a handful of sessions where Mattias Ekstrom drove, Norway’s Andreas Bakkerud completed most of the team’s total of 44 laps.

Team Peugeot Total

Sweden’s Timmy Hansen drove Team Peugeot Total’s sleek new Peugeot 208 WRX Supercar for the first day in Loheac, before Kevin Hansen completed four laps at the end of the day. Timmy Hansen piloted the car for 48 of the car’s 52 laps, and Kevin Hansen will take over running tomorrow.

Olsbergs MSE

On the day it announced its 2018 World RX programme with Kevin Eriksson and Robin Larsson, the Olsbergs MSE team ran a new Ford Fiesta Supercar with the cooling radiator located in the front of the car. The Fiesta completed 40 laps, Eriksson taking the wheel for the early part of the day. The team also ran a Honda Civic Supercar for 20 laps, with both Eriksson and Larsson also driving.

G-FORS

With the GCK Renault Megane R.S. RX Supercar nearing completion for World RX 2018, Guerlain Chicherit drove the new G-FORS Renault Clio Supercar for 44 laps before Jean-Baptiste Dubourg took over for eight laps at the end of the day.

STARD

Latvia’s Janis Baumanis drove the STARD Ford Fiesta Supercar that he raced in World RX last year at the Loheac test on day one and completed 24 laps.

Plenty more action to come tomorrow, follow #WorldRXTest on social media.