NRX FC1-X to make debut at 2022 Race of Champions

The 2022 Race of Champions will mark not only the first time that the star-studded event is held on a snow/ice surface, but moreover the first race for the FC1-X. On Monday, a day without Nitro Rallycross wrapped up its Wild Horse Pass race weekend, ROC spoken the series’ FC1-X electric car will make its racing début at the event on 4–6 February.

Various rallycross series have experimented with electric vehicles in recent times, perhaps most notably the FIA World Rallycross Championship which intends to switch to a fully electric grid in 2022. In advance, the series has the all-electric FIA RX2e Championship support class. NRX’s FC1-X will moreover uncork competition in 2022 with a sixteen-car grid, though as its own semester while the headlining Supercars protract to use internal combustion engines. Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, Good Times Racing, Gronholm RX, Olsbergs MSE, Vermont SportsCar, and XiTE Racing have currently locked in their entries for the FC1-X, as has a to-be-announced organisation.

Unveiled at Wild Horse Pass, the FC1-X was designed by First Corner, a joint venture between QEV Technologies and Olsbergs MSE, with blessings from manufactuers like Ford, Subaru, and Volkswagen. QEV is a Spanish electric mobility manufacturer that is responsible for projects like solar cars and has participated in motorsport like Formula E, Extreme E, the World Rally Championship, and touring cars. Olsbergs MSE is one of the top operations in the rallycross world. Both parties moreover worked together on the RX2e.

The FC1-X is intended to be the fastest and strongest rallycross car in history, plane quicker than its ICE-powered counterparts. It is planned to have over 1,000 horsepower; by comparison, Supercars possess 600 hp.

“Our future goal is to unravel all kinds of records with this platform,” said Olsbergs MSE throne Andreas Eriksson. “We can today do 0–100 km in less than 1.5 seconds. The car will make a mark on history and perhaps transpiration the way we squint at motorsport. ROC is the perfect launch pad for the FC1-X.”

ROC, which will be held near the Arctic Circle in northern Sweden, adds the FC1-X as part of shifting towards stat neutrality and environmentally friendlier options. The RX2e will moreover be utilised at the event.

“We vest to a region that is at the forefront of the untried transition and we moreover want all our events to be characterized by and take responsibility for environmental and sustainability issues,” commented organiser and Pite Havsbad Group throne Tobias Lindfors. “Pite Havsbad, which is the Nordic region’s largest tourist and priming facility, is heated by waste heat at 95 percent. This is something we are very proud of, but of undertow we protract to work on developing these issues remoter and electric cars is part of this.”

NRX founder Travis Pastrana will take part in ROC, his ninth time competing (2003, 2005–2007, 2009–2011, 2017).