George Megennis will race for YellowSquad in the upcoming NRX NEXT season, making him the first driver to be announced for the Nitro Rallycross support category.
The 16-year-old, whose brother is Indy Lights racer Robert Megennis, has already enjoyed success in karting, and has tested crosskart and rallycross lites machinery – the second of those taking place at DirtFish – ahead of his rallycross debut in this weekend’s RallyX Nordic season finale at Arvika in Sweden with the team led by World Rallycross Championship driver Kevin Hansen.
That is in preparation for the NRX NEXT season, which will commence on September 24-25 at Utah Motorsports Campus.
“I’m pumped to be working with YellowSquad and the Hansen Motorsport family,” said Megennis.
“It gives me a lot of confidence knowing I have the best guys in the rallycross business handling all my preparation – I’m able to just get in the car, take onboard all the great advice and input they’ve given me so far and try to go as fast as I can.
“Coming to Sweden has been a really interesting experience so far, and I’m really glad I had the opportunity to come over and do this RallyX Nordic race before my Nitro season begins.
“The track isn’t quite the same as the NRX tracks – it’s a bit flatter and the jumps aren’t so big – but it’s a good chance to practice my technique, make sure I’m hitting my marks and be in the best possible position heading to Utah next month.”
YellowSquad team principal Hansen was pleased to welcome Megennis to the fold and highlighted the similar path he took on his way to competing in rallycross’ highest level.
“We’re really excited to bring George into the Hansen family, so to speak,” said the 2019 Nitro Rallycross event winner.
“It’s not been long that we’ve been working together but I can already see his professionalism and dedication – he’s going to work hard to climb up the ladder in rallycross.
“We have all the tools here in YellowSquad to provide a platform for him to grow – a fast car, top engineers, and a really detailed development plan that covers his driving technique, fitness and diet.
“It’s also super cool to see George taking the same path I did! I came straight from karts to junior rallycross, won the RX Lites title in 2015 and then went straight to Supercars.
“I’m still the youngest driver to win the European Championship and make their World RX debut, so we know this pathway works. Now we’ll work with George and see if we can help him break some records of his own.”
In announcing Megennis, YellowSquad becomes the second team after Olsbergs to commit to the SuperCar Lites formula, which was preceded by GRC Lites and ARX2.
Olsbergs MSE, which developed the single-make SuperCar Lites platform used in NRX NEXT, previously confirmed its intention to field two entries alongside its four Supercars in the main class.
