North American rally star Brandon Semenuk wants to cross the Atlantic to compete on European rounds of the World Rally Championship – but he’s not prepared to do that at any cost.
Semenuk, last year’s Green APU American Rally Association champion, has never competed outside of North America, but is ready to take that step if the right opportunity arrives.
“I would hope to get the chance,” he told DirtFish, “but the stars need to align. Obviously, I would love to experience the WRC or to go to a different championship and compete against different drivers, but I want to do it in the right way.
“I would want to do it properly and to set myself up to do well – like I would at any rally. I don’t want to go to any random event just to go to one event overseas and then not have it go my way or have fun.
“It would be nice to do my homework and have a plan. Hopefully one day, but as a North American it’s tricky.”
Having won one of the most competitive ARA title races in the history of the series – when he edged Ken Block in a final-round thriller at last year’s LSPR – Semenuk is confident he could show good pace in Europe.
He added: “With the right preparation and the right opportunity, I do believe I could be competitive at a WRC2 level. It’s an experience thing, it’s not all going to come together immediately, it would take time, but I do feel I could be over there and enjoy it.
“But, at the same time, I’m pretty lucky in the position I’m in now –I can’t really complain too much!”
As well as driving a Vermont SportsCar-prepared factory Subaru, Red Bull athlete Semenuk is arguably the world’s finest freeride mountain biker.
