28-year-old Belgian GT racing legend Enzo Ide will take part in a full-season campaign in the FIA European Rallycross Championship as he join forces with Swedish JC Raceteknik in the second Audi S1 Supercar alongside Norwegian’s Ben-Philip Gundersen.
Previously it was confirmed that the Swedish team will be entering an Audi S1 Supercar in the FIA World Rallycross Championship with the reigning champion in Euro RX, Robin Larsson.
The team has bought five of the EKS World RX team Audi S1 cars, which will be seeing action throughout the year.
“The journey Enzo has been on over the past six months with his rehabilitation has been absolutely incredible. Sitting behind the wheel of a race car what he knows best, and I’m happy for him that he can do this again. We have known for a long time that he had plans to race in a whole series, and last year it was unfortunately only one event, so we look forward to being able to do this together this year,” Joel Christoffersson, Team Principal, said.
“Enzo is a very capable and successful racing driver who clearly knows how to drive a car. Now the challenge will be to adapt his style to rallycross, on asphalt and gravel. We will go into the season, see where we are and continue from there. Enzo has good potential and learns quickly and it will be beneficial for him to have Robin Larsson in the team to analyse his data.”
Last season the team were running two of the Audi S1 cars in the World RX as the championship visisted the successful Spa-Francorchamps track for first time. It was then Ide made his rallycross debut alongside the 2016 World RX champion Mattias Ekström.
Ide’s previous racing career includes winning the European title in the Blancpain Sprint Series as well as the Belgian GT3 Championship.
Most recently, Ide was in coma after suffering an accident in his home that caused a brain haemorrhage and fractured skull, he was in hospital for several months.
“I’m really looking forward to driving again. My main goal is first and foremost to have fun, and to learn rallycross. As I progress, I will be able to expand my goals and set what I want to achieve on track. JC Raceteknik is a team with hard working people and a lot of experience, we have a good understanding with each other and I have a good feeling for the season,” Ide said.
“I’ve previously done circuit racing, but in 2016 Mattias Ekström let me test a rallycross car, and I must say I was impressed. It was so much fun with a lot of adrenaline, I was addicted straight away.
“Then I did my first rallycross race with JC Raceteknik at Spa last year. Shortly after that, my accident happened. Since I stepped down from racing in 2017 there hasn’t been much driving. But now I am happy to be back and to be able to fully focus on rallycross.
“Last autumn when I got the head injury and I was in hospital for eight weeks, my goal was to stay healthy and be able to drive again. Three weeks ago, I got the “Ok” from my doctors to start competing and I really think motor sport will be good for my recovery.
“I really want to thank everyone who has supported me during events, the accident and now during the road to recovery. The doctors, nurses, physiotherapists and other people who did everything for me – they made me live again. From my state seven months ago to racing at the first race in two months’ time, it’s incredible.”