Per Eklund has confirmed that his Eklund Motorsport organisation will enter a VW Beetle Supercar in this years FIA World Rallycross Championship.
The Swedish Rallycross legend explained that due to the FIA opening up the Supercar Homologation rules this year, this has opened up the oppurtunity to take the Beetle Supercar racing in the World Championship. The team has been testing and developing the Supercar for the past twelve months.
“We’ve been working on this project for a long time, so I’m pleased that now we can make plans to use the Beetle,” said team owner Per Eklund. “We have one car running now but there are some changes to make before we can race.”
However the exact plans for how many events the Beetle will contest in either the World Rallycross Championship or the European Rallycross Championship also depends on drivers that can bring a capable budget for the season.
“There has already been a lot of interest in the Beetle and I’ve spoken to several drivers who would like to race it, but so far nothing has been agreed and I’d really like to find to a driver who has the budget for a full World Championship season in the car,” continued Eklund.
“If we can’t get a full World Championship then we will focus on European events. I think the car can be a winner.” – Per Eklund
The chance to take the car into regular Rallycross action has been made possible due to the FIA adding the Volkswagen Beetle to the list of cars eligible for Rallycross competition this year.
The FIA has also opened up the engine regulations this year to allow a larger range of Supercars to be run and to ensure that two litre engines can continue to be used even if a manufacturer does not produce a suitable a two litre base engine. This means the Eklund Motorsport VW Beetle will be the first Rallycross Supercar to take advantage of the Custom Engine Regulations.
The Beetle model has already seen Rallycross action in the Red Bull Global Rallycross Championship last year. The Andretti Autosport team introduced the car partway in the season for its 2014 drivers Tanner Foust and Scott Speed.
