Swedish based Team Faren have announced recently that they will field an all International line up for their two campaigns during the 2018 season.
With the team already entered in the 2018 RallyX on Ice series in the Supercar Lites class, they have also confirmed that they will compete in the FIA World Rallycross Championship support series, the RX2 International Series. The Swedish team will run 2017 British Rallycross Champion Nathan Heathcote and Global Rallycross Lites driver Conner Martell.
Connor Martell made his debut in the RallyX on Ice series in Sweden. Credit: Team Faren.
With the first round of the series having taken place at Östersund in Sweden last weekend, Martell has already impressed in his debut. Making his first full-time appearance for the Eric Faren-owned squad against a strong field of Scandinavian ice racing specialists, Martell made it into the final to finish sixth.
Martell explains the challenge ahead of him as he learns to race in snow conditions.
“Racing on ice is really different to what I have most experience of but it’s a lot of fun, I’m learning every day I’m in the car out on the ice, we had some really good testing and we made a lot of progress at Ostersund,” explained Martell.
“It was unfortunate that I hit Gundersen in the final, but we have good pace and we can hope for better results moving forward. It’s great to work with Team Faren and I’m excited for this year.”
Nathan Heathcote will be the second British RX Champion to graduate to RX2. Credit: Team Faren
Heathcote will make his debut for the team on Thursday when he tests the OlsbergsMSE built RX2 machine for the first time as the iconic World RX venue of Holjes, ahead of his debut in the series this weekend.
The Kent driver will be the second consecutive British RX Champion to move up to the RX2 International Series, following 2016 champion Dan Rooke. Rooke, who went on to win the RX2 round at Holjes on his way to second place in the standings, also drove for LD Motorsports in one of their Citroen DS3’s during his title wining year.
Heathcote is looking forward to learning the ways of the RX2 machine, which requires a different driving style to a Supercar.
Martell will make his debut in the RX2 International Series this year. Credit: Team Faren
“RX2 as a good step up from what I did last year. Conner has a lot of experience in the cars so I’m looking forward to working with him and hopefully we can share knowledge to help each other,” said Heathcote.
“I know you’ve got to be a lot smoother in an RX2 car than you have in a Supercar, it will be like going back to my karting days I think. I’ve never driven on ice before so there will be a lot to learn this week, but I’m excited to get started.”
