With the announcement at 2018 Autosport International Show that Albatec Racing will return to the 2018 Toyo Tires MSA British Rallycross Championship with former British Rally Champion Mark Higgins, Team Principal Andy Scott spoke to The Checkered Flag.
This is the second part of the interview, where Andy discussed his thoughts on how there could be improvements made to the British Rallycross scene that could lead to a clear ladder of progression from the UK into Europe and finally in to the World Championship. He also discussed what his own potential plans for 2018 could involve.
How do you feel the progression from the National Rallycross level could be improved to allow British drivers to be better prepared for coming on the International Rallycross stage?
Scott feels there should be a more defined ladder from British RX through to Euro RX and World RX. Credit: RallycrossBRX.com
“Rallycross is growing in popularity around the world and because of this I am a firm believer that we need to have a stronger national Rallycross championship in place to feed into Euro RX which then ultimately leads to World RX. For me, its disappointing that if you have the budget, you can then make the leap from British RX straight into World RX.”
“I would like to see the ASN regulations in place that state you have to compete at the top level of the national series for a certain number of seasons and finish each season as such a required level that you are then eligible to enter Euro RX and then move on to World RX.”
British drivers such as Dan Rooke can be even bigger on the World Stage explains Scott. Credit: Matt Bristow | Rubber Duck Does Automotive Photography
What do you feel is needed to further the profile of British Rallycross drivers competing in Euro RX and World RX to the both the general British public and also the British Motorsport fan-base?
“We’re very lucky that for example in Formula One, the whole country is behind Lewis Hamilton and that he is very well known. This is down to a having a clear single-seater chain of progression from the National Series all the way back up to Formula One and that its well publicised.”
“So what we need is for British Rallycross drivers who want to make that progress to have a similar clear path. This way they know what they need to do to compete in British RX before then making the move to compete successfully in Euro RX and then later onto World RX where they will then be able to carry on that success.”
Andy Scott will return to Rallycross Competition in 2018. Credit: Albatec/McKlein
Finally, with the team already involved in British RX this year, will there be the chance that we will see Andy Scott back behind the wheel of an Albatec Racing Peugeot 208 in competitive action?
“At the moment, I can say that you will be seeing me racing this season, however I’m not in a position to confirm where that will be. I will be driving one of the teams Peugeot 208 WRX Supercars which has seen a lot of updates over the winter to improve the performance further.”
“To support Mark I will be competing in a number of rounds of British RX, however there is another programme that we are working on which I can’t announce yet. When we have the details for that programme finalised, we hope to be able to announce what this is shortly.”
