Another chapter in Audi’s US rallying history is set to be written in 2025, as Roberto Yglesias steps into an Audi A1 from this week’s Olympus Rally.
“It is pretty cool to think about Audi’s heritage in rally – they really were the ones to change the game originally,” the Costa Rican told DirtFish.
“And it’s especially cool being the only one doing the full championship, as there’s a couple who race a rally or two.
“It’s a definite change for me, as I have never raced in something other than a Ford. So we’ll see how the German chassis suits me!”
Fittingly, it’s 40 years since rallying legend John Buffum drove an Audi Quattro A1 in the American championship, and while Yglesias will have a tough job returning the Audi badge to the top step of the podium, his mission is different: to prove both his own speed (having driven a Ford Fiesta ST in L2WD for years) and the value of the Audi A1 Maxx Rally – an Argentinian-homologated alternative to an FIA Rally2 car.
Yglesias explained: “The Maxx Rally cars, which race around the world known as Maxi Rally or N5, provide similar power and suspension travel elements than an R5 or Rally2 car but at a much lower cost of maintenance as it utilizes more commonly-available parts rather than relying on a single-manufacturer supply.
The livery Yglesias' A1 will sport in 2025
“The car is powered by a 1.6-liter BMW Mini engine with a turbocharger and the same 32mm restrictor as Rally2 cars, however it uses an X-Shift six-speed sequential gearbox which can be dropped into any standard Subaru six-speed case, as well as Subaru differentials.
“While lower power and much less development than a Rally2 car, at Pura Vida Rally Team we hope to help revitalize the RC2 class – showing that you can build a rally car in a US-available chassis without needing to rely solely on European manufacturers.
“Personally, I want to see what I can do in a faster car, but at the same time, as a business owner where we’re building and renting cars and someone passionate about growing rally, I want to prove that you can compete with a US-built car.
“We know the Maxi/N5 are approximately 1-2 s/km slower than the Rally2, but I want to see how close we can get in a car that’s much less than half of the maintenance cost [of a Rally2].”
The idea is to sew how close the car can get to conventional RC2 cars
Yglesias’ start to life in the A1 was far from ideal though, as a pre-event testing accident for last month’s 100 Acre Wood Rally delayed his debut in the car.
“I came in too fast into a crest and hit the berm on the outside of the corner which sent us into a roll,” he explained. “While the damage was mostly cosmetic, leaving the rollcage intact, most of the body panels of the car were bent or damaged and we wanted to do a full review of the car ahead of racing it again.
“Since the roll in testing, the car got stripped completely back to a shell to confirm the chassis and rollcage were intact and we replaced all the damaged body parts thanks to a donor car we purchased. We also ordered a new body kit and spoiler so basically the whole body of the car that’s visible will essentially be brand new.
“The roll definitely tampered a bit my expectations and will have me going into Olympus with a much more measured approach of learning the car and using the year for seat time and learning – I realized that the faster speed means I have to setup the car much earlier and brake earlier as I’m going faster when I reach a turn,” he added.
“I’m also going to be working on my notes adapting them to the faster speed by working with Alex and Rhianon [Gelsomino at Oz Rally Pro] ahead of Olympus. If we can stay near the Rally3 cars I’ll be happy as those cars are built for Olympus.
“The positive is the car felt great before I rolled it. The new gearbox was smooth and as the crash proved, it can get up and go very quickly. Now I just need to learn to tame it!”
