25-year-old Norwegian RX2 International Series superstar Ben-Philip Gundersen will step-up to the FIA European Rallycross Championship this year with the JC Raceteknik squad from Sweden but this time in a 600bhp Supercar.
Last year team JC Raceteknik had the most successful season to date with Robin Larsson securing the championship titles in Euro RX and the Scandinavian serie RallyX Nordic in an Audi S1. Gundersen took the championship title in Supercar Lites in RallyX Nordic and became the runner-up in the RX2 International Series championship.
Gundersen has had many strong results and in 2016 he took the championship title in the Euro RX TouringCar class. Now Gundersen will be take the step-up in his career and will be driving one of the team’s Audi S1 Supercars.
Together with the team he will do a full-season campaign that is start on 23 May at the most exciting new rallycross venue of Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.
“We have worked for a long time on the goal of having Ben-Philip in Supercar in 2020, so being able to take the step up to Euro RX together is great.” Said Joel Christoffersson, Team Principal of JC Raceteknik.
“Over the two years he has been racing with JC Raceteknik, we have watched him develop the whole time and he clearly has the correct pace to take make this step. We have done some testing and I can see great potential in Ben-Philip in Supercar. Of course, this will first and foremost be a learning year, but Ben-Philip is a winner, you can see that in his eyes, so we will work to fight at the top and aim to make it to the podium.” Joel Christoffersson, Team Principal of JC Raceteknik added.
“It feels fantastic to have this opportunity. Since I started competing in folkrace as a 15-year-old, I have dreamed of racing in Supercar at this level and I’ve been working on that goal ever since. Now I’m here and I’m very excited.” Gundersen said.
“Together with JC Raceteknik, I have achieved good results in Supercar Lites. We’ve had a good collaboration, so now I have this opportunity to take the step up in Supercar, it definitely feels right to continue on this road together. We know the car is good, so it will be an exciting season.“
“Regarding our goals, this is firstly a learning year. Even though Supercar Lites is the best school you can go to, to prepare for the highest class, it’s still very different from driving a Supercar.
“I expect many of the other drivers to have raced Supercar before, so it will be hard competition. I think it will be sensible to get a feel for everything in the first race, to compare with the other European drivers and then take it from there. I think our goals will evolve over the course of the season.” Gundersen added.
