Autosportfoto

RX academy builds on successful first season

RX Academy is set to expand for its second year and will begin the 2018 season at FIA World Rallycross Championship venue Holjes in May, joining the RallyX Nordic series.

Run over five rounds in Sweden and Finland, RX Academy will continue to use identical Renault Clio RS RX cars and is billed as the first rung on the ladder to becoming a rounded rallycross driver that has World RX aspirations. The prize for winning RX Academy 2018 will be a free drive in the 2019 FIA European Rallycross Championship for Super1600 or the five European-based rounds of the RX2 International Series, the single-make support category to World RX.

Reigning RX Academy Champion, Jesse Kallio, will race a SET Promotion-run Renault Twingo in the Euro RX Super1600 category next season as his prize drive. "I learnt more from RX Academy last year than I could ever have expected. It teaches you all the things that a rallycross driver needs to know, from driving to mental training," he said. "After last season I feel I'm ready to face new challenges next year in Euro RX. I would say to all young drivers that RX Academy is the best option to develop as a driver in a highly-professional environment."

The RX Academy is led by former European Rallycross Champion Jussi Pinomaki, who also worked with the GRX World RX team in 2017. "We announced RX Academy just over 12 months ago and we have really delivered on what we set out to do. We have a solid foundation which we can now build on and continue to developing into next year, and it's fantastic to be joining both RallyX Nordic and the Finnish Rallycross Championship at some amazing circuits," he said. "Last year we had drivers from all over the world compete with us and we look forward to having another diverse range of talented rising stars join us in 2018."

Zdroj: fiaworldrallycross.com