CE Dealer Team have confirmed that their driver line-up will be a groundbreaking gender equal pairing. In the first year of the new all-electric era in World RX, Klara Andersson will make history as the first permanent female competitor since the championship began in 2014. She will be joined by World RX regular and last year’s third place finisher and six time event winner Niclas Grönholm.
Andersson comes to World RX having won the Swedish Rallycross Championship’s 2150 class in 2021, and an impressive fourth place finish in her first appearance in the RX2e Championship at Spa-Francorchamps.
She says that, while she has rallycross experience, the road ahead could be challenging: “World RX and the awesome 500kW (680bhp) electric beasts that we will race are new to me and none of us are expecting to get anything for free – we have plenty of hard work ahead of us to establish ourselves at the top.”
Grönholm – son of the two-time FIA World Rally champion Marcus Grönholm – agrees that the fight for success in the new electric era of World RX will be tough, but is optimistic about their chances, saying “we have a lot of combined experience and I think we can spring some surprises this year.” Grönholm will certainly be one of the favourites to fight for the title this year, having finished 2019 just 25 points off the top spot, despite missing two rounds due to appendicitis.
CE Dealer Team will be competing against the likes of ALL-INKL.COM Muennich Motorsport, Volkswagen Dealerteam Bauhaus, and rallycross titans Hansen Motorsport.
Team manager Jussi Pinomäki is confident that the line-up of Andersson and Grönholm will be able to rise to the challenge, saying “they complement each other well in terms of raw talent and experience, and we are confident we have a robust set-up that will enable our long-term goal of fighting for the FIA World Rallycross Championship Titles.” With all of the teams currently finalising development of their all-new ultra-powerful electric rallycross, competition will be fierce right from the off.
The 2022 World RX season will be officially launched at the Magic Weekend at Höljes circuit in Sweden on 2/3 July, before heading to Nurbürgring, Hell in Norway, Biekernieku in Latvia, Portugal’s Montalegre, and the legendary Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.
