Ellis Spiezia will compete in the World Rallycross-supporting RX2e category this season, joining a long list of American youngsters who have crossed the pond to race in rallycross’ development classes.
The 18-year-old New Jersey native will be the the first American since Conner Martell in 2021 to compete in RX2e, and and the ninth overall to compete in World RX’s second tier after Martell, Lance Vacala, Cole Keatts, Christian Brooks, Tanner Whitten, and Mitchell De Jong, as well as 2020 NASCAR Xfinity series champion and 2022 Daytona 500 winner Austin Cindric, and former IndyCar driver Kyle Kaiser.
“I’m super-excited to take the next step on my electric motorsport journey with QEV Technologies in RX2e this season,” said Spiezia. “Rallycross will be a new challenge for me and is an incredible application for electric powertrain tech. Everyone at QEV was amazing during my first test at Calafat, and I can’t wait to be part of their team, promoting the championship, the technology and the future of the sport.
Spiezia, somewhat uniquely, has focused his career and development on electric categories. After two years in e-karting, he raced in the NXT Gen Cup series last year, placing third overall. However, he has also made appearances in the US F4 winter series, and made his rallycross debut at the Nitrocross season finale in Las Vegas last month racing in the combustion-powered Nitrocross NEXT category. Ahead of the Vegas event, he tested the RX2e ZEROID X1 race car at Circuit de Calafat in northeastern Spain.
“Being my first season in a discipline like this will be a big step up and it’s definitely going to be a very tough challenge, but I’m more than ready for it,” he said. “:Getting sideways and taking jumps, I intend to represent QEV and the championship well and put on a great show for the fans!”
The RX2e season will begin at Essay in France on June 8-9, before heading to Holjes, Sweden on July 6-7, Nyirad, Hungary on July 27-28, Mettet in Belgium on August 17-18, and Montalegre, Portugal on September 7-8.