45-year-old former British rally driver Natalie Barratt is the first driver to be announced in the first-ever electric rallycross series Projekt E, driving a newly-built Ford Fiesta from STARD.

Barratt, who is a familiar name when it comes to the British rally scene and with 44 FIA World Rally Championship rounds in her portfolio. Her latest challenge arrives as she becomes part of the electric initiative of rallycross with plans to enter the full-season.

“Projekt E is a fantastic opportunity and I’m hugely grateful to be part of it and what better date to announce my participation than on International Women’s Day?” Barratt said.

“I am looking to complete all five rounds – depending on budget. At moment I am concentrating on getting physically prepared – it’s been a long time since I sat in a race car.”

Credit: IMG / World RX

The Projekt E series is the first-step to make the World RX fully electric, which will split into ICE and EV classes next year. The cars are developed by the Austrian World RX and firm STARD, which will be using they own made power units called ‘REVultion’ that will be producing 450kW and 1100Nm.

“It’s electric and it’s mind-blowingly fast. What more could you ask for? I’ll be testing the Projekt E race car for the first time later this month,” Barratt added.

Previously the series announced two teams who will be entering the full-season, Poland’s Rallytechnology and Norwegian’s Holten Motorsport, both teams will announce their driver line-ups in the coming days.

The series will be kicking off their season at Spa-Francorchamps on 16 to 17 May.