The South African off road icon Lance Woolridge was announced on Wednesday afternoon to be making rallycross debut in the all-electric FIA RX2e Championship support series at the FIA World Rallycross Championship round in Norway this weekend.
Woolridge who has never done any proper side-by-side racing before, beside being an active driver in the current Extreme E series, driving for Veloce Racing alongside a familiar RX2e name Christine GZ, where he has faced a little bit of door banging.
The South African do have a lot of off roading experience from earlier, before he signed up with Veloce to replace Stéphane Sarrazin for this season in Extreme E, he became a two-time a Class T champion in the South African Cross Country Series.
“I’m very excited to enter a completely new discipline for me, that will help me to add a set of skills to my driving and enhance my motorsport career. I will be happy to progress my learning and speed throughout the weekend.” Woolridge said.
Woolridge will be up against some of the upcoming fast young talents including the Höljes winner Viktor Vranckx, Patrick O’Donovan, Isak Sjökvist, Nils Andersson as well as Extreme E rival Laia Sanz.
However, Woolridge will not be the only one making a debut in rallycross this weekend in the class. The multiple skiing world champion Aksel Lund Svindal will also be switching disciplines.
“I know I am up against some very fast drivers with this being their primary discipline I am not expecting to be winning but I hope I can at least provide a challenge for them. Coming from rally raid, I am confident with reading terrain and going fast, but do not often race against other cars side by side so this will be the challenge for me.” Woolridge added.
2022 Ramudden World RX of Norway, RX2e entry list:
| Nº | DRIVER | NAT. | COMPETITOR | NAT. |
| 00 | Patrick O’DONOVAN | GBR | Patrick O’Donovan | GBR |
| 5 | Pablo SUÁREZ | ESP | QEV Motorsport | ESP |
| 9 | Aksel Lund SVINDAL | NOR | Aksel Lund Svindal | NOR |
| 13 | Viktor VRANCKX | BEL | Bert Vranckx | BEL |
| 14 | Nils ANDERSSON | SWE | Kristoffersson Motorsport | SWE |
| 34 | Lance WOOLRIDGE | ZAF | QEV Motorsport | ESP |
| 44 | Laia SANZ | ESP | Acciona Sainz XE Team | ESP |
| 77 | Mark FLAHERTY | GBR | Mark Flaherty | GBR |
| 82 | Isak SJÖKVIST | SWE | Isak Sjökvist | SWE |
| 97 | Raul FERRE | AND | ACA Esport |
