Enzo Ide is set to continue his rallycross apprenticeship in 2022, after committing to a full campaign of Euro RX1 competition with former World Championship-winning outfit EKS – whose team owner Mattias Ekström has tipped the Belgian for a title challenge.
Enzo Ide is set to continue his rallycross apprenticeship in 2022, after committing to a full campaign of Euro RX1 competition with former World Championship-winning outfit EKS – whose team owner Mattias Ekström has tipped the Belgian for a title challenge.
From a circuit racing background in sportscars – winning both the 24 Hours of Zolder and Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup along the way – Ide dipped his toe into the water in rallycross in World RX on home soil at Spa-Francorchamps in 2019.
He contested the full season last year, gaining experience alongside multiple world champion Johan Kristoffersson at KYB EKS JC. After reaching the final for the first time in Sweden, the 30-year-old then underscored his improvement by repeating the feat in each of the last four rounds – going on to impressively top the timesheets in Q2 on the last day of the campaign at the Nürburgring.
Buoyed by that progress, Ide will now test his mettle in the FIA European Rallycross Championship’s fiercely-competitive Euro RX1 category behind the wheel of the same
latest-generation Audi S1 EKS RX quattro that he piloted in the World Championship. “Rallycross is a very unpredictable and action-packed sport that is hard to compare with anything else,” he reflected. “In 2021, running alongside the most successful World RX driver of all time, I had a chance to learn a lot and improve.
“Now I will have to utilise that knowledge as I want to fight for the top places in Euro RX1. It’s a very logical step to continue with EKS as they have the knowhow and experience at the very top level of the sport, and I know the Audi S1 very well.”
“I’m excited to continue with Enzo,” echoed EKS founder and owner Ekström, who lifted the World RX laurels as a driver in 2016. “I’ve seen his growth in circuit racing, where he kept learning and eventually claimed the Blancpain title. For the past couple of years, he has been doing the same in rallycross – learning and developing his skills with every race he has done.
