Albatec Racing‘s Jerome Grosset-Janin took his first FIA European Rallycross Championship win at Mettet in Belgium last weekend.
The former French Rallycross Champion joined the Dumfries based team in 2015 run by British Rallycross Championship leader Andy Scott and rewarded the squad by taking his first ever EuroRX victory, beating Volkswagen Team Sweden‘s Ole-Christain Veiby and Hungarian driver Tamas Karai in the Final.
Albatec Racing enjoyed a good start to its EuroRX campaign with Grosset-Janin being on the pace during the heat stages in his Peugeot 208 WRX and finished the first days standing in second place behind Francois Duval in his Ford Focus. He went on to qualify for the second Semi-Final and after taking victory, he earned himself a place on the front row of the Final. After contact at the start of the Final, Grosset-Janin passed Veiby for the lead before going on to take his joker lap successfully and taking the win.
James Grint, who made his debut at Pembrey in the British Championship, enjoyed a positive first weekend of EuroRX and showed a good turn of speed during the heat stages where he was poised to take one of the top twelve places that led to the Semi-Finals. However a puncture on the second day just kept him outside the qualification zone, but his speed and potential are clear and there is more to come from the young Englishman.
Team Principle Andy Scott is overjoyed that Albatec Racing lead both the British and European Championships in 2015 so far.
“Fantastic! We’ve invested a lot of time and hard work in rallycross over many years and to win our first European championship race as a team is an unbelievable feeling and goes part way to paying us back all the hard work that the team has done to reach what I hope will be the first of many wins,” said Andy Scott.
“I’ve got to shake myself a bit for it to sink in that we’re now leading both the British and European championships, it really is a dream come true. Jérome has been really quick all weekend, but it’s not been without issues. We’ve had some incidents, we’ve had damage to repair, but it’s testament to the way everyone has worked together to overcome those problems that we’ve been able to deliver a car for Jerome to win the Final.
“James too has had a great weekend, he’s kept his nose clean, he probably would have reach the semis apart from the puncture he suffered in heat two, and I think it’s a great start to what I hope will be a long career for James.”
Grosset-Janin was very happy with his first EuroRX victory.
“The final was crazy,” said Grosset-Janin. “I had a really good start I felt, and then was hit very hard from behind. The car has been good all weekend, we’ve had good pace all day, and I’m very happy for the team. They gave me a lot of confidence and all the work we did over the winter months with their technical team has given me the best start to the season.
“Now for the team to be leading both the British and European Championships is a good indication of all the hard work they have done during the winter months and the start of the season, so I look forward to continuing that during the year.”
Grint was very happy with his performance over the weekend and looked to the positives.
“I think we’ve got some positive things to take away from the weekend, the heats didn’t go quite to plan, but the overall times weren’t too bad,” said Grint. “It’s all been a learning curve but I think we’re going in the right direction.
“It’s a great result for Albatec to be leading the British and European championships I think it’s amazing, I’m definitely in the right place, with all the right people behind me to push it forward. My set-up is developing, and I’m sure that there’s more to come, I’m really happy to be a part of it.”
Albatec Racing is in action again this weekend at the WorldRX of Great Britain where Andy Scott and David Binks will pilot both Peugeot Supercars.
