Nitrocross – Syndication Server

Larsson dominates Vegas finale to take second Nitrocross crown

Robin Larsson wrapped up his second Nitrocross title with a clean sweep on the second day of the season-ending Las Vegas doubleheader. The DRR JC RX Cartel driver won every one of his preliminary races en route to the final, but it was after the …

Robin Larsson wrapped up his second Nitrocross title with a clean sweep on the second day of the season-ending Las Vegas doubleheader.

The DRR JC RX Cartel driver won every one of his preliminary races en route to the final, but it was after the second heat race — which he merely needed to start after winning his first race of the day — that he wrapped up the title.

That didn’t lead to him taking it easy in the six-lap final though, and he duly launchedd into an early lead from pole position, as Timmy Hansen, the 2018 Nitrocross champion returning to the series for the first time since 2021, settled in behind him from second on the grid.

Behind the lead pair, Larsson’s RX Cartel teammate Andreas Bakkerud hit trouble early on, being sent into the wall at Turn 1 after a door-to-door brush with Guillaume de Ridder. The race continued though, with Hansen making life difficult for Larsson up front as de Ridder shadowed him.

Hansen came closest to taking the lead in lap 3 off the gap jump, when he looked up the inside of the hard left hander which immediately followed it, but Larsson remained resolute up front. He tried again in the same place a lap later, but the result was the same.

Larsson’s win ended up being secured on lap 5 when, on the approach to the gap jump, de Ridder tapped Hansen as he attempted to take second and join the lead battle. The move cost both time, allowing Larsson to pull away. Hansen was able to recover some of the lost ground, but not enough by the race end.

Larsson eventually won by 1.444s from Hansen, with de Ridder locking in third in his second round in the series.

Fraser McConnell finished fourth after a quiet final, the position solidifying second in the points for him. Conner Martell was fifth, but his final will be remembered for what happened post race, when he performed a burnout against the concrete wall in front of the fans which resulted in his front tires bursting into flames.

Viktor Vranckx was sixth in his team’s third car, which sported an Evel Kneivel-inspired, livery. He was driving the alternate car after crashing heavily on Saturday which necessitated a hospital visit.

Oliver Eriksson was classified seventh after he joined Bakkerud in retiring early on.

NITROCROSS LAS VEGAS II FINAL RESULTS

McConnell and Kevin Eriksson were unable to stop Larsson from winning another championship. Qnigan/Nitrocross

After winning on Friday, McConnell entered Saturday’s season finale still with a shot at the title, but his failure to win his first race of Sunday effectively ended his hopes.

McConnell finished second to Hansen in his first heat, with the others being won by Bakkerud and de Ridder. McConnell was then able to win in the next round, along with Oliver Eiksson, but his absence from the Top Qualifier race, as a result of missing out on a heat win, proved vital.

Later in the day, finishes outside the top-two in the Last Chance Qualifiers prevented Kevin Eriksson, Oliver Bennett, Patrick O’Donovan, and Travis Pastrana from advancing to the main event.

NITROCROSS LAS VEGAS II OVERALL CLASSIFICATION

With drivers’ lowest scores dropped – not including Calgary where everyone scored zero points by default after the weather affected the event — Larsson took the title by 82 points over McConnell, with Kevin Eriksson, who led the standings in the first part of the season, third, 101 points adrift of Larsson. Bakkerud finished the season fourth, ahead of Oliver Eriksson in fifth, with Pastrana sixth despite sitting out the second round at Glen Helen Raceway in December.

NITROCROSS 2023-24 FINAL STANDINGS

Saturday’s NEXT final was the last-ever race for the SuperCar Lites pltform. It was introduced in Global Rallycross back in 2013. Qnigan/Nitrocross

The Nitrocross NEXT season ended with Casper Jansson taking an eighth consecutive win. The streak is a record for any U.S.-based rallycross series in any class.

The final was subject to a lengthy red flag delay after a roll for Ellis Spezia on lap 3 while taking the joker.

Once it restarted, Elias Svensson capped off a fine debut weekend by finishing second behind Jansson, while Lane Vacala finished third.

In Side-by-Sides, Branden Sorensen won on home turf ahead of Banks Hovey, Gray Leadbetter, and his sister Amanda Sorensen, with three-time NASCAR Truck Series champion Matt Crafton completing the top-five. After crashing out of the SxS Open final, season champion Kainan Baker won the PRO invitational class final.

The Baja Bugs final victory went to Blake Wilkey, ahead of UFC star Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, who took his first podium finish of the season. Jim York completed the podium.

McConnell keeps in Nitrocross title hunt with Vegas victory

Championship outsider Fraser McConnell kept himself in the hunt for the Nitrocross title with a dominant victory in the penultimate round of the season in Las Vegas. With overtaking difficult on the tight track constructed at Planet Hollywood on the …

Championship outsider Fraser McConnell kept himself in the hunt for the Nitrocross title with a dominant victory in the penultimate round of the season in Las Vegas.

With overtaking difficult on the tight track constructed at Planet Hollywood on the Strip, the Dreyer & Reinbold JC driver needed to make his start in the six-lap final count – and he duly did, launching into an early lead.

Polesitter Oliver Eriksson retaliated in the first heavy braking zone however, retaking the lead up the inside of the banked dirt turn, but his time at the front would be a short-lived as he got tagged by McConnell just after the joker merge two turns later, contact that would send him into the wall and leave him at the mercy of Robin Larsson.

Larsson, though, had his own issue to deal with, brewing hounded by Timmy Hansen, who was making his first Nitrocross appearance since 2021. Hansen was faster than the points leader, but couldn’t find a way past, and couldn’t dive into the joker for clean air either as that would have left him open to attack from Andreas Bakkerud who had taken the alternate route on his first pass through.

That battle allowed McConnell to take off in front, while Hansen and Larsson took their respective jokers on lap three and four, the alternating strategies not changing the order, however.

McConnell – who signed a contract extension with DRR this week, keeping him with the team for the 2024-25 season – ultimately crossed the line 3.76s ahead of Larsson who held off Hansen right to the line, both crossing it alongside one another.

Guillaume de Ridder finished fourth on his Nitrocross debut, six seconds off McConnell, with Travis Pastrana and Bakkerud the remaining finishers.

Kevin Eriksson was classified seventh after retiring at the halfway point following a first lap spin, while his brother and OMSE teammate Oliver Eriksson also retired following his own lap 1 incident.

NITROCROSS LAS VEGAS I FINAL RESULTS

Four drivers failed to make the final, with series debutant Patrick O’Donovan and Viktor Vranckx being eliminated from the first Last Chance Qualifier, while Conner Martell and Oliver Bennett failed to advance from the second.

O’Donovan and Vranckx came together at the Joker split on the opening lap of their LCQ, with the latter ending up in the wall, necessitating a red flag and a trip to a local hospital for checks. When that race restarted, O’Donovan was off the pace as a result of damage sustained in the clash.

In the other LCQ, Martell had a tense fight with Vermont SportsCar teammate Pastrana throughout the contest, with the 2021 champion ultimately prevailing.

Before nightfall, Oliver Eriksson had been quickest in the opening practice session, and won both his heat race, the Top Qualifier race, and his semifinal, with McConnell won the other semi, having started his day with a seeding heat win as well, but fourth in the Top Qualifier race.

NITROCROSS LAS VEGAS I OVERALL CLASSIFICATION

Casper Jansson extended is record winning run in NItrocross NEXT. Qnigan/Nitrocross

In Nitrocross NEXT, Casper Jansson won a record-extending seventh race in a row, beating Lane Vacala and series newcomers Elias Sevenson and Ellis Spiezia.

Pastrana took his third win in the last four races in Side-by-Sides, leading home Tyler Remmereid and Gray Leadbetter, whom he recently shared the Legacy Motor Club car in Extreme E with.Teenager Kainan Baker dominated in the open SxS PRO invitational class, winning ahead of Kory Willis and Remmereid, who like Baker was pulling double duty in both SxS class.

Ryan Rodriguez won in the Baja Bugs category, leading home Blake Wilkey and Jim York.

Nitrocross adds SxS PRO class for Las Vegas season finale

Nitrocross has announced an additional class for its season finale next weekend, with Side-by-Side PRO joining the bill at the double-header event at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas. Running as well as the championship’s usual Side-by-Side class …

Nitrocross has announced an additional class for its season finale next weekend, with Side-by-Side PRO joining the bill at the double-header event at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas.

Running as well as the championship’s usual Side-by-Side class (pictured) – which features identical Can-Am Maverick X3s – SxS PRO will feature a field of vehicles from Polaris and Yamaha as well as Can-Am.

The vehicles in the class feature a high flow exhaust system and suspension alterations, with 250 horsepower coming from their modified engines fueled by Boostane UTV96 race gas.

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The top two drivers in the standings of Nitrocross’ regular SxS category, Kainan Baker and Tyler Remmereid, will contest the class along with two-time Baja 100 winner, double Crandon and LOORRS Pro Lite champion, UTV world champion and Extreme E race winner RJ Anderson and his brother, 2020 UTV World and 2021 SXS Pro NA champion Ronnie Anderson.

They will be joined by Pro Turbo UTV race winner Jeb Bootle, motocross convert Damon Bradshaw, 2020 Championship Off-Road Pro Lite champion John Holtger, UTV racing champion Cash LeCroy, father-son duo Rodney and Owen Van Eperen, and UTV race winner and vehicle tuner Kory Willis.

Nitrocross’ usual SxS class will also have its biggest field of the season, with 12 drivers entered in the single-make Can-Am category. Regulars Baker, Remmeried, Leticia Bufoni, Donald “Cowbow” Cerrone, Gray Leadbetter, and Travis Pastrana will be joined by Alyanna Baker, Banks Hovey, Zach Lumsden, Amanda and Branden Sorensen, and Adam Thomelius.

Both SxS classes will feature on Nitrocross’ biggest racing bill ever, which will be headlined by the all-electric Group E category, as well as Nitrocross NEXT – racing with the venerable SuperCar Lites cars for the final time – and Class 11 Baja Bugs.

Nitrocross makes Calgary weekend a non-points exhibition

Nitrocross has changed its winter event in Calgary this weekend to a non-championship exhibition following concerns over track conditions after a recent spell of unseasonably warm weather. The fan experience will remain the same, however, with gates …

Nitrocross has changed its winter event in Calgary this weekend to a non-championship exhibition following concerns over track conditions after a recent spell of unseasonably warm weather.

The fan experience will remain the same, however, with gates still opening from 3 p.m. as planned. The new format will forgo preliminary rounds in order to maintain track conditions for the condensed racing schedule in the afternoon.

“It’s always been our goal to deliver the most exciting, action packed racing experience for the fans of Calgary and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” Nitrocross general manager Chip Pankow told RACER. “With Sunday’s shift to an exhibition format, we have given our track the necessary time to properly freeze and produce the type of racing people have come to expect, whether that’s our Baja Bugs, NEXT class, or the premier Group E electric vehicles that highlight Nitrocross.

“Safety and race integrity are our top priorities, ensuring the best conditions for both drivers and fans. Despite the weather challenges we’ve fought, the success of events like yesterday’s Fan Fest and last year’s race in Calgary made it clear we had to ‘send it.’”

Speaking ahead of the weekend, Pankow detailed the track build process, which began several months ago.

“We create all the contours of the track when the dirt is still pliable, then we wait for it to snow. At this point we compact the snow, and that creates a nice bedding for the ice, and then it’s all about adding water, and you add water millimeter by millimeter, lap after lap.”

While the Calgary area experienced record low temperatures in January, the more recent Chinook winds and sun have massively changed the situation. A last minute reprieve in the form of overnight snow and a significant drop in temperatures on Sunday morning will allow the revised event to go ahead, but in terms of a full championship round, it’s proven to be too little, too late.

“Snow melts pretty quickly, but ice melts very slowly so it’s not like we’re losing centimeters and centimeters of ice. We get a water layer on the top, and then luckily just about every night we’ve been able to go and replace that,” Pankow said of the weather situation. “Our team gets to the track at [2-3 a.m.] and then replaces [the lost layers] with watering and we can get a freeze happening. It’s actually good to have a little period of warm weather; it actually toughens up the ice a little bit, as long as you can get a good layer of ice in there.”

For Nitrocross’ snow and ice events – of which this will be the third after a points-paying visit to Quebec last year as well as another weather-affected exhibition in Calgary – the series uses specially-developed Yokohama tires which have 325 12mm long studs in each, which is another reason why the ice needs to be in peak condition.

“The thing with the ice is people always think it’s slippery or you have to be careful, but it’s actually the opposite,” said Kevin Erikkson, winner of last year’s Nitrocross event at Stampede park. “You have to be more aggressive, you have to carry more speed into the corners because that’s what gives you grip. You don’t really look for the grip, you create the grip yourself by throwing the car in, kind of going backwards and getting the studs to dig in.”

Eriksson emerged triumphant after warm temperatures forced the series’ hand last year, but despite the change, he says the Canadian fanbase remained as passionate as ever.

“This was something else and you could really see the passion that they all had, and also it was something brand new for all of them,” he said. “And that was the grandstand, but also the autograph signing after the race… I think we were signing until 11 p.m. and the queue never ended, so it was so great to see that it was such a big passion for motorsport and Nitrocross in particular up here in Calgary.”

De Ridder joining Nitrocross in second VMV entry at Vegas finale

Guillaume de Ridder will join the Nitrocross field from the season finale in Las Vegas in March. The 2021 RX2e champion will join compatriot Viktor Vranckx at VMV Racing which is expanding to two car team for the first time. “I’m really excited to …

Guillaume de Ridder will join the Nitrocross field from the season finale in Las Vegas in March.

The 2021 RX2e champion will join compatriot Viktor Vranckx at VMV Racing which is expanding to two car team for the first time.

“I’m really excited to be back behind the wheel, and I’m even more excited to be back behind the wheel in Nitro,” de Ridder told RACER. “I’ve been around now for a few races, not driving but working with both OMSE and VMV Racing with Viktor now and it’s been amazing.

“It’s an incredible show and coming from Europe, it’s something really special. Nitro is something like we’ve never seen before so I’m really excited, and on top of that, coming to Vegas will be even better because they will be stepping up the show even more.”

De Ridder was a frontrunner in the World Rallycross-supporting RX2 category, finishing second in 2018 and 2020, before taking the title in 2021, the category’s first season as an all-electric class. Since then, however, he has been focussed on his off-track engineering roles with Nitrocross teams Olsbergs MSE and VMV, as well as Alpine in Formula 1.

“It’s been a long time away from racing for me — two years now. The last time was 2021 when I got the RX2e title so I’m a bit rusty,” he admitted. “I hope it’s not too much, but no, I think the expectation for Vegas is trying to get comfortable in the car.

“It’s quite difficult to know where I stand within the field because all of these drivers have one full season, or even more, in the car and on top of that they’re really good drivers, really top level. I’ve driven against a few of them in Europe and I know that I can compete with them, it’s just my knowledge of the car is quite small.

“I would say our objective is being in the final and trying to see what we can get from there.”

Guillame’s addition to the VMV stable comes as part of a rapid expansion for the VMV team, which only debuted at the last event at Glen Helen Raceway in mid-December. As someone who Vranckx has been working with off-track for some time already, de Ridder’s entry is being seen as a move that will help the team become championship contenders in coming seasons.

“A two car team is always stronger than a one car team, so it’s going to be easier to find the perfect setup and get on the podium together,” Vranckx said. “Having Guillaume by my side since I started my professional career…has helped me to get here and now to give him the chance I had is really awesome and I think he’s the guy that deserves it the most. He’s proven he’s really fast but just didn’t have the luck always, but now he can prove himself again and I’m sure he will be fighting for the championship.

“I think we’re both going to help each other when we find some small tenths. We’re going to [communicate], which is going to be hard because you always want to beat your teammate, but me and Guillaume — our relationship is professional, but we have an amazing friendship as well outside of the racing, so I think that’s just going to grow. I’m going to learn from him and he’s going to learn from me, hopefully.”

Capito, Laheta join Nitrocross executive team

Former McLaren Racing CEO and Williams F1 team principal Jost Capito has joined Nitrocross as a senior advisor, the championship confirmed today. Capito, who also led Volkswagen through its domination of the World Rally Championship in the mid …

Former McLaren Racing CEO and Williams F1 team principal Jost Capito has joined Nitrocross as a senior advisor, the championship confirmed today.

Capito, who also led Volkswagen through its domination of the World Rally Championship in the mid 2010s, has already attended races this season, and will be charged with helping the series implement its sporting vision as it continues to expand following the investment from a consortium that includes UFC boss Dana White into the series’ parent company Thrill One back in 2022.

“My strong belief in Rallycross and its future, now featuring powerful and exciting EVs, motivates me to contribute to Nitrocross,” said Capito. “After speaking with Lorenzo Fertitta and Dana White, I am confident our collective vision is to not only push the boundaries of motorsports but also inspire a new era of competition and innovation.”

Capto arrives at the same time as former NASCAR executive Mike Laheta who will join as head of partnerships. In his 10-year tenure at NASCAR, Laheta played an integral role in bringing Craftsman back as the Truck series’ title sponsor and also led revenue generation for the inaugural NASCAR Chicago Street Race Weekend.

He will be in charge of expanding series partnerships among brands among the Millenial and Gen-Z demographics, expanding on the work already done by the series which saw it generate more total growth on social media than Extreme E, World Rallycross, and Formula E combined.

“Nitrocross is perfect for how younger audiences want to consume sports,” said Laheta. “It’s rare that a property seems so poised to meet the interests of avid race fans while simultaneously appealing to new audiences. I’m really excited for what that means for Nitrocross, our fans, and partners.”

Capito and Laheta’s signings come after Chip Pankow moved into the role of general manager of the series, a position he will fill solely having previously co-led the series with Brett Clarke, who now serves as chief revenue officer. Pankow, a veteran of Audi, BMW, DaimlerChrysler, as well as IndyCar and F1, was the man behind rallycross’ debut in the U.S. in 2010 and will work closely alongside series pioneer Travis Pastrana to continue to growth of the championship.

“Nitrocross isn’t just rewriting the rules of motorsport – we’re shredding them,” said Pankow. “We’re in a relentless pursuit of cutting-edge ways to connect with and attract new fans. It all starts with content, storytelling and distribution.

“Our strategy has made us the fastest growing motorsports property on social media. We look forward to continuing this momentum and helping our teams, drivers and partners to connect with this new generation of sports fans.”

The 2023-24 Nitrocross season will continue this weekend in Calgary, where it will host its only snow and ice race of the campaign.

Daly returns to Nitrocross for Calgary round

Conor Daly will return to Nitrocross for next weekend’s trip north of the border to GMC Stadium in Calgary, which will host the only snow and ice round of the season. Daly will once again race for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing in the headline …

Conor Daly will return to Nitrocross for next weekend’s trip north of the border to GMC Stadium in Calgary, which will host the only snow and ice round of the season.

Daly will once again race for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing in the headline all-electric Group E class, having featured for the team twice earlier this season, driving alongside Robin Larsson, Andreas Bakkerud and Fraser McConnell. For the last two events — doubleheaders in Phoenix and California — Dreyer & Reinbold’s fourth car has been occupied by Brian Deegan.

“I’m thrilled to be back with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing JC for Round 8 of the Nitrocross season,” said Daly. “Ice will be a new challenge for me as dirt was earlier in the season, however, I believe I will be able to adapt quickly.

“The team’s commitment to excellence and the electric atmosphere of Nitrocross make this a perfect fit for me. I can’t wait to hit the track for an unforgettable race.”

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Daly made his debut in the category at the season opener in Oklahoma last June, and raced in rounds two and three at Utah Motorsports Campus in August. He took his best finish to-date in the first part of that doubleheader, finishing fifth ahead of reigning champion and current points leader Larsson.

“Dreyer & Reinbold Racing JC is delighted to welcome Conor Daly back to our team for Round 8 of the Nitrocross season,” said Dreyer & Reinbold Racing team owner Dennis Reinbold. “Conor’s previous performances have showcased his talent and determination, and we are confident that his return will add an extra layer of excitement to the upcoming race.”

Pastrana to miss Nitrocross in Calgary due to knee surgery

Travis Pastrana will miss the next round of the Nitrocross season while he recovers from surgery. Pastrana is having a knee replacement procedure ahead of the trip to Calgary on February 3-4, the series’ only snow and ice round, and only event …

Travis Pastrana will miss the next round of the Nitrocross season while he recovers from surgery.

Pastrana is having a knee replacement procedure ahead of the trip to Calgary on February 3-4, the series’ only snow and ice round, and only event outside the United States. He is, however, expected to return for the season finale in Las Vegas at the beginning of March.

“There’s nothing better than ripping a 1000 horsepower machine with huge studs around the ice, but unfortunately my knee finally gave out from a lifetime of fun and I made the decision to get it replaced,” Pastrana told RACER. “I will be back better than ever for Vegas and ready to rock for the 2024-25 Nitrocross season.”

Calgary will be the second round in succession that Pastrana has sat out of the headline Group E class after having stepped aside for Lia Block in the second half of the doubleheader event at Glen Helen Raceway in December. Pastrana was also set to miss one of the two rounds in Utah to give YouTube star and sometime Stadium Super Trucks racer Cleetus McFarland an opportunity to race until series organizers put a stop to the plan owing to McFarland’s inexperience.

Pastrana, a six-time Nitrocross event winner and the 2021 series champion, has one victory so far this season, at the second round of the campaign at the Utah Motorsports Campus. He added a second podium in Phoenix two rounds later.

His absence from the next Nitrocross round isn’t expected to impact his stage rally plans with the Vermont SportsCar-led Subaru Motorsports USA operation, though. Subaru’s season will get underway with Sno*Drift in Atlanta, Michigan on February 9-10 with six-time U.S. champion Pastrana competing alongside co-driver Rhianon Gelsomino and the pairing of Brandon Semenuk and Keaton Williams in the team’s new WRX Open class cars.

Elsewhere in the field, Oliver Bennett will return in Calgary having missed the last two events due to back injury. His XITE Energy Racing team will once again enter a sole car for the Brit, having fielded Kris Meeke and Tanner Foust in its second car at the first two events of the season.

Nitrocross and World RX can benefit one another – Hansen

Kenneth Hansen, the 14-time European Rallycross champion and team principal of the world championship-winning Hansen Motorsport squad, says that World RX and Nitrocross can mutually benefit one another. While often seen as direct competitors in the …

While often seen as direct competitors in the crowded motorsports landscape, both differ heavily, with Nitrocross being a U.S.-based, single-make series that runs on tracks with dramatic features, while World RX utilizes cars developed by teams and more traditional courses. They’re different enough that Hansen feels both can co-exist healthily, and provide a global platform to develop the next generation of talent.

“Personally, I definitely think Nitro needs World RX and World RX needs Nitro,” he told RACER. “It’s very important that we have both series and they’re growing and they are healthy.

“Rallycross is quite a small sport so we need to extend it more, and if we can have a good market in the U.S. and also one that’s world-, Europe-based, it’s good and it will be more interesting for more people. If the top is there, the grassroots will also come more so we will have an ecosystem that works and we will have newcomers coming.”

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Hansen previously competed in both, winning the inaugural Nitrocross contest with Timmy Hansen in 2018 before backing it up with Kevin Hansen a year later. But it left at the end of 2021 to focus on World RX.

Nitrocross has developed at a huge rate since then, with increased investment from a consortium that includes UFC leader Dana White and bigger standalone events that regularly attract capacity crowds. It’s a development that impressed Hansen upon his return to the paddock at the recent Glen Helen event.

“You see on the pictures and look on the TV that there’s lots of people, but here you can see it yourself,” he said. “I’m around to look at everything from small details to scrutineering to race control and VIP and whatever, to see what has happened. And it has happened — it’s much bigger now with more investment, and it seems to be on a good path.”

Nitrocross stands to enjoy a healthy grid expansion in the coming seasons from the current season high of 11, with 17 cars confirmed to be sold (including those currently racing), and 24 to be built in total.

Meanwhile, present day World RX is capped at 16 entries, although it hasn’t featured a grid bigger than 10 since adopting EVs — not that grid sizes are a key indicator of a particular series’ success, as Hansen points out.

“With the format there, that will be fine,” he said of World RX’s current capacity. “In Nitrocross, they perhaps could come to be 20 or even 24 and with this format that could also be fine.

“You see in Extreme E there are 10 and that’s extremely good. It’s a good championship and it doesn’t need to be more. It’s a little how you make it and how you format it. And of course also with the support categories, that helps a lot.

“But also with that in mind, we did Hong Kong without support categories — it depends how you put the event on and how you do it. The people that are here need some entertainment and that doesn’t mean something on track — jumps, motorbikes, we can also be entertained by the paddock. It’s how you present it and how you package it.”

Hansen Motorsport targeting Nitrocross return in 2024

Renowned rallycross team Hansen Motorsport is exploring a return to Nitrocross next season. The team won the first two editions of the contest – the standalone events at the 2018 and ’19 Nitro World Games – before coming close to a three-peat in …

Renowned rallycross team Hansen Motorsport is exploring a return to Nitrocross next season.

The team won the first two editions of the contest — the standalone events at the 2018 and ’19 Nitro World Games — before coming close to a three-peat in 2021, the series’ first full season. But as both Nitrocross and World Rallycross transitioned to electric vehicles in 2022, Hansen opted to consolidate its operations and focus exclusively on the European-based series. However, team principal Kenneth Hansen was in attendance at the sixth and seventh rounds of the 2023-24 Nitrocross season at Glen Helen Raceway, checking out how the series has developed as he prepares to take his family team back across the Atlantic

“I like rallycross, so it’s quite good to visit here and have a look,” he told RACER. “We have been here for some years, we have been here with success and we like it.

“At the time they changed into electric cars we were doing World RX also so we put every effort into one side as best as we could,” he explained. “But of course now we have stabilized a little, so we are looking to see if we can do something more.”

A return Stateside would be an expansion for the team, not a replacement for its World RX effort, Hansen stressed.

“The world championship will always be a world championship, so that’s a base for us,” he insisted. “But we managed to do Nitro and RallyX [Nordic], and also World RX at the same time so it’s not a problem to have another ‘problem.’”

The Nitrocross environment is one that contrasts those in Europe, which Hansen says is another attraction.

“In the U.S. it’s quite a lot about the show and perhaps the sporting side is a little less, and in World RX the sporting side is perhaps a little too heavy. It’s very well structured by the FIA but it’s also difficult to move outside the box,” he admitted. “So I think if we would mix it up a little, it could be a good way, but it’s not easy to do that.

“Perhaps it’s also good that it’s quite different, because for us when we did World RX then came here, it’s very different, it’s something new. But then you come back to the stabilized side in World RX and it’s also good to go back — it doesn’t change all the time and you know it will be like that, but it’s interesting both ways.”

Hansen suggested that Nitrocross might not be the only place his team is looking to expand, with the idea of venturing outside the rallycross sphere for the first time also being an opportunity.

“We are always open to looking at things and of course we have even been looking at other things outside the box,” he revealed. “Even if we are not entering a program that could be quite different, we are learning from it.

“We were visiting the E1 boat series and that’s quite different, but we are learning from it, so that’s good. We don’t close any doors and we will look at different things.”

But for now, Nitrocross is top of the list, and could return to the Hansen portfolio as soon as next year. Hansen said that the team will look to align with another competitor, and while he wouldn’t be drawn on who that could be, RACER understands two of the series’ current five squads are serious possibilities.

“The next season for Nitro starts in September next year, so why wait? It’s better to work on it and see if we can get things together,” Hansen said. “I think if we do a program here, last time we did it completely ourselves and did it by containers — we didn’t have a base. If we would do this again, we would have a base and try to partner up with someone.”