2015 MSA British Rallycross SuperNational Champion Dan Rooke has set his sights on a move up to the FIA European Rallycross Championship for 2016 and has begun looking at his options for the new season by testing a Super1600 Renault Twingo in Italy.
With the British SuperNational title in the bag, Rooke is now looking at the Super1600 category as a stepping stone for the ultimate goal of the FIA World Rallycross Championship.
“My target for next year is to take a step up and compete in the European Championship. It was brilliant to be out in Italy watching the World RX event before the test. It gave me an opportunity to see how the team worked during a race weekend and how the car went on track,” said Rooke.
Rooke drove to victory in the British championship driving a 1600cc front-wheel-drive Citroen AX, and with the Twingo being a similar size it didn’t take him too long to settle in to the new car.
“I found the Twingo very easy to settle into and great fun to drive. Although it’s similar to the AX in that they are both front-wheel drive and have a similar power to weight ratio, the Twingo was quite different and I had a few things to get used to, such as it being left-hand drive and with a six speed sequential gearbox, but it was fine.
“On my last run, I was within a second of the pace of the Set Promotion drivers during the weekend, so with limited kilometers, I was happy with that,” he added.
“This was just a one-off test with Set Promotion for now. We’re currently talking to several teams about next season and still have options to stay in the British Championship too. We’re evaluating what will benefit me in the long run. The European Championship is clearly a very good stepping-stone to the World Championship. I’m very excited about the future.”
