Wilks to run Polo RX Supercar in 2017 World Rallycross Championship
Hot on the heels of the announcement that second placed 2016 World Rallycross Championship driver Johan Kristoffersson and ex-World Rally Champion Petter Holberg are teaming up to contest the 2017 series in a pair of Polo RX Supercars, comes this week’s news that Britain’s Guy Wilks will also run a similar car.
Highly successful 2016 machine
Two-time British Rally Champion and ex-WRC driver Wilks will contest all 12 rounds of the 2017 FIA World Rally Championship in a Polo RX Supercar, which just happens to be ‘Elsa’, Kristoffersson’s highly successful 2016 machine. Wilks has previous rallycross form, too, having competed in selected 2015 and 2016 rounds of the series.
The Englishman will be entered as an independent, supported by energy drink LOCO, whose branding will mean Wilks’ Polo should be easy to spot both on and off the track when the first round of the 2017 World Rallycross Championship, the World RX of Barcelona, gets underway on 31 March at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain.
‘Something I’ve always wished for’
‘To get an opportunity to do a full World Championship is something I’ve always wished for,’ explained an elated Wilks. ‘To compete in a car that finished second last year adds pressure but it is the ingredient that can make it realistic for me mix it at the top, even though the bar in World RX is getting raised year on year.
‘I want to thank LOCO energy drink and Marc Blackburn for this opportunity – he saw me drive at Lydden and Loheac in 2015 and believed in me from the start. I’m going to give it absolutely everything and we want to put ourselves up against the best. There’s still a lot of work to do but 2017 is going to be an awesome journey!’ added the 36 year-old from County Durham.
‘A talent behind the wheel’
Paul Bellamy, World RX Managing Director for IMG, concluded: ‘Guy is very familiar with rallycross – he’s regularly commentated alongside Andrew Coley on our TV show. There’s no denying he’s a talent behind the wheel and proved this when he reached the final on his rallycross debut at Lydden Hill back in 2015.’
