Renowned Swedish touring car team PWR Racing will enter rallycross for the first time this season, running two cars in the top electric class of the World Rallycross Championship.
The team will be led under the Construction Equipment Dealer Team name by former EKS team manager and rally co-driver Emil Axelsson, alongside co-founder Daniel Haglöf.
CE Dealer Team is the fifth entry into the top RX1e class for the 2022 season, which kicks off with a launch event at Höljes on the opening weekend in July.
GCK Motorsport, Hansen Motorsport, Münnich Motorsport, ESmotorport and Volkswagen Dealerteam are the other confirmed teams for the new electric era of the championship.
For PWR Racing, electric mobility has been a hallmark of the team’s motorsport operations in recent years, having built and developed the world’s first all-electric touring car, the PWR001.
It has dominated the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship since the switch to TCR regulations in 2017, with Robert Dahlgren winning three titles and Rosberg X Racing Extreme E driver Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky finishing runner-up in the standings last year with two race wins.
Now, the team is expanding its program by entering rallycross.
“While World RX is new to us, building and developing fast electric race cars is not,” said Haglöf, himself a former touring car driver in the STCC and World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) with PWR.
“Our extensive racing experience coupled with the vast technical expertise of our industrial partners gives us confidence that our long-term goal of fighting for FIA World Rallycross Championship titles will ultimately be successful.
“An important additional element of our program is to drive a change that will see motorsport become more inclusive and diverse. We look forward to announcing further exciting details surrounding these elements soon.”
As well as his work with Mattias Ekström’s EKS outfit, Axelsson has been part of the PWR set-up alongside Haglöf and believes electric rallycross is the ideal project for the squad.
“We are pleased to announce our entry to World RX, which is a perfect fit for the CE Dealer Team and our push for a more sustainable future with our partners,” explained Axelsson. “The World RX program provides us with an excellent activation platform, one where our partners can showcase their innovative products and solutions through the world’s most exciting electric motorsport category.”
CE Dealer Team will benefit from the support of a number of independent distributors of Volvo Construction Equipment, which includes Ascendum, SMT and Swedcom, while also receiving significant backing from industry partners SSAB and Engcom.
The team is expected to unveil its two drivers for the 2022 season next week.
