World Rallycross regulars Hansen Motorsport have collaborated with Formula 1 team Williams to compete in the 2020 iRacing Rallycross World Championship.
RX2 racer Henrik Krogstad makes up one half of the Hansen Williams Esports line-up in 2020 and will be joined by American sim-racing pro Josh Fox.
Krogstad became the RallyX Nordic Supercars Lites champion earlier this month for the #YellowSquad team as well as winning the one-off RX2 series event.
He said on his involvement with the project: “Entering the iRacing Rallycross World Championship will be as big a challenge for me as competing in RX2 and RallyX Nordic was this year. Maybe it’s an even bigger challenge because I don’t have so much experience in the virtual racing world. I only downloaded iRacing for the first time in February and I didn’t enter the qualifying series, but my speed in the ranked races I did compete in was enough to get me one of the wildcard places.
“I believe in myself of course, and Hansen working with Williams Esports in this championship gives me a lot of confidence. That is very important for me because I’m not sure I’d have accepted my invitation to compete in the championship without having the operational support of an experienced esports team around me.”
Fox meanwhile has raced in Sprint Car in the US while also having great success in the sim-racing world. Fox starts the iRX season as a top contender for the world championship title, having finished 3rd overall in 2018 and scoring 401 wins in 659 ranked iRacing Rallycross events to date.
He added: “This will be my third season competing in the iRacing Rallycross World Championship and it’s shaping up to be the best season yet. I was so excited to hear that Hansen Motorsport would be joining the field in partnership with Williams Esports; it feels a bit like we’re creating a superteam. I feel proud to represent Hansen Williams Esports and I’m looking forward to a strong season for the team.”
Both drivers will compete in a nine-round calendar of events, starting on Saturday 26 September and finishing on Saturday 5 December.
The first round takes place on very familiar territory for Hansen Motorsport, Hell Lankebanen, which hosts Norway’s World RX round. Events at Daytona International Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Iowa Speedway, Sonoma Raceway, Lucas Oil Raceway and Phoenix Raceway complete the iRX calendar.
European Rallycross champion Kevin Hansen who is also the Esports Team Principal for Hansen motorsport added: “It is an amazing opportunity for us, being able to enter the esports industry through a partnership with another brand which for decades was also a family-run team winning world championships.
“Williams’ commitment to esports, including the in-house capability and infrastructure they’ve developed, and the opportunities this gives Hansen Motorsport is very exciting.”
