The double British Rally Champion will drive the car that Swede Johan Kristoffersson used to win the French round of the championship last season and finish second in the points.

Wilks will enter as a privately-run individual entrant in the series under the LOCO Energy World RX team banner.

“This has been a long time coming, I’ve been waiting for a good opportunity to do a full World Championship for so long and I’m massively looking forward to it,” Wilks told Motorsport.com.

“This has all come together quite late and I’ve got to find my feet quickly in a car that I don’t know. I’ll have to draw on every ounce of experience I have, but I’m relishing the opportunity.”

After retiring from rallying at the end of 2011, Wilks made his rallycross debut at the British round of World RX in 2015 and made the final in a JRM Racing-run Mini RX using a 1.6-litre engine.

He suffered a puncture in the race and finished sixth. Four subsequent appearances followed, three in a JRM Mini (France 2015, Spain 2016, Latvia 2016) and one in an OlsbergsMSE Ford Fiesta (Lydden Hill 2016) but the British driver was regularly hampered by technical problems.

Wilks says the Polo is the best rallycross car he will have raced to-date, and thinks he can challenge for strong results in 2017 as a privateer against manufacturer-supported teams.

“Without a doubt, the Polo is definitely the most complete package I will have used in rallycross. We have to be aiming to make semi-finals every single time. After that, anything can happen.

"We want to be in the finals. I could say that we’re aiming for podiums but I’m not wanting to get carried away – we’ll take this one step at a time and I’ll be giving it my best shot.”

The opening round of World RX takes place in Barcelona in just over a months’ time. “I’m really focused on Barcelona, but I’m looking forward to absolutely every event this year.

"This is the best opportunity I’ve had in a long, long time. I just want to keep my feet on the ground and hopefully we can get some good results and surprise a few people.”