After a three-year break from the RallyX championship, Eric Färén has confirmed that Team Färén is planning to expand and be back in business next season.
A former RallyX runner-up in the Supercar category before launching his own racing outfit in 2017, with which he notably supported Dan Rooke, Conner Martell and Nathan Heathcote in the RX2 series championship, Eric Färén will focus on RallyX again in 2024.
Associated with the #YellowSquad team since 2019, Team Färén will however return to the RallyX championship under its own name.
“I will undoubtedly continue my involvement with #YellowSquad and Hansen Motorsport, but at the same time I will also relaunch the Team Färén outfit in the RallyX championship. We’ve already had the opportunity to compete in this championship in the past and achieved some very good results, so it’s a real pleasure to know that we’ll be back in 2024.
For the Swedish team owner, it’s certainly the introduction of the FC2 concept to the Supercar category that has helped trigger this comeback. In fact, Team Färén’s last appearance in RallyX dates back to the 2019 season, when the Swedish team worked with Marcus Hoglund in Supercar Lites.
More recently, Team Färén also showed its strength in March 2023, when it helped Tommi Hallman win the world finals of the NEXT category (Supercar Lites – ed.) in Nitrocross.
“We still have a Supercar Lites in our workshops, so when I heard about the FC2 concept, which allows a Lites to be modified to race in the Supercar category, I was immediately interested. It’s definitely something we’re working on at the moment. However, in addition to FC2, we’re also open to all other categories, starting with Junior CrossCar, Senior CrossCar or Supercar Lites.”
While FC2 appears to be a major goal for Team Färén, the Swedish team boss sees the concept as an excellent way to attract young drivers to rallycross, while also encouraging them to invest in the sport over the long term.
“We know that young drivers are still attracted to rallycross. Everyone knows it’s the best concept you can find in the world of motorsport and I think the addition of FC2 will help to reinforce this trend. Before the introduction of FC2, one of the problems in our sport was getting the youngest drivers up to Supercar level. With the FC2, we’ll be able to solve that problem with a car that’s much more accessible in terms of budget.”
For Eric Färén, the introduction of the FC2 concept could be a turning point for the sport of rallycross and the RallyX championship.
” If we can keep the cost of FC2 relatively low, it will be a real game changer for rallycross. Even though the number of drivers involved in rallycross has fallen a bit in recent years, the FC2 concept will clearly help us to reverse this dynamic”.
Indeed, from Junior CrossCar to the Supercar category, young talent will now benefit from a clear framework for their future development in Rallycross.
“We have a huge number of talented young drivers in Junior CrossCar and Senior CrossCar, but RallyX now offers drivers the chance to develop in the long term. At the end of the day, there’s not such a big step between the cost of a program behind the wheel of a top spec CrossCar and that of a program in Supercar Lites, and from now on it will be the same between Supercar Lites and FC2, which can now allow drivers to compete in the Supercar category.”
