The newly formed EKS JC team from Sweden, formed by merging two of the leading rallycross outfits EKS and JC Raceteknik, has unveiled a new rally car project, an Audi A1 Quattro, that will seen on the international stage.
The EKS team was founded in 2014, when the former DTM champion Mattias Ekström switched his focus over to rallycross and started to develop the Audi S1 EKS RX Quattro rallycross car. In 2019 JC Raceteknik took over the rallycross part and by that they became FIA European Rallycross Championship and RallyX Nordic champions the very same, and also clinched the team’s title in the World RX last season on their first attempt.
EKS JC will now be focusing more on rallying, the team is now working in conjunction with the South African rally cars manufacturer Rally Technic, and has put together a new project that is based on the latest generation Audi A1. The car has been prepared by using a Rally2-Kit and is built to meet the FIA standards.
The car uses the Audi´s own Quattro four-wheel-drive system that you can find in the regular road cars offered by the German manufacturer but as this car is a rally car that will be doing stage rallying – it is fitted with a Oreca 1.6 litre turbo powered engine that produces 263 horsepower and equipped with a five speed sequential gearbox.
“When the new generation of the Audi A1 was launched, we knew right away that we wanted to do something about it. And since everyone knows my passion for rallying, it quickly became clear that we were going to build a rally car. At the moment, this car will only be used for ours. own use, but when we are completely satisfied with how it performs, we will offer rental and sales to other drivers. “ Ekström said.
The team have hired the former FIA Junior World Rally Champion Emil Bergkvist as the development driver, and is currently being tested on snow but later during the season it will be going through some gravel and asphalt tests, the team plans to be entering a few rally events throughout the season as well.
“We are very pleased to collaborate with EKS JC during this project. The Rally2 equipment offers a unique balance between price and performance for the competitors, and in this case it is also combined with a legendary brand and a fantastic body kit.” Chris Coertse, CEO of Rally Technic, added.
