July 12th 2023, Barcelona – Finish rallycross star Tommi Hallman will step up to the all-electric FIA RX2e category within the FIA World Rallycross Championship for two rounds of the 2023 series in the UK and Germany.
The reigning Nitro RX NEXT World Final winner and Nitro RX NEXT Europe Champion will make his electric rallycross competition debut in the third round of RX2e at Lydden Hill in the UK later this month (July 22nd-23rd), the venue where Hallman claimed a pair of podiums in 2022 in Nitro RX NEXT. The Finnish driver feels confident ahead of his first race in RX2e: “I’m really excited to join the RX2e grid; to have my debut with an electric race car at the birthplace of rallycross is quite a combo. I raced at Lydden last year and I felt comfortable on the track, so I’m aiming for a high result. Of course it’s going to be a challenge to get used to everything quickly as some of the competitors have raced these cars for a few seasons already, but adapting has always been one of my strengths”.
While the UK event will mark former RallyX Nordic Supercar Lites Champion and RX Academy event-winner Hallman’s first-ever electric start, he has spent his season so far working with the Construction Equipment Dealer Team as VIP – Taxi Driver at World RX events.
He also worked with the Extreme E off-road series as it’s Championship Driver for the Hydro X Prix in Scotland, which included spending time testing the track in the all-electric ODYSSEY 21, tested the Nitrocross FC1-X in America and acted as a guest ‘expert’ commentator on the RX+ broadcast, commentating on the RX2e category during the Swedish round of the World Rallycross Championship at Höljes. “Even though RX2e will be my first race in the electric era, I’ve been lucky enough to gain experience with four different electric race cars already this year, so I have some view how they work and what are the biggest differences to the combustion engine machines in terms of handling. I’m sure the level will be high, but I’m feeling positive about my pace. The small details are going to be a key factor to success and that’s where I’ll focus”, Hallman explains.
Never off the podium in 15 Supercar Lites events since the start of the 2021 season, including 10 wins, Hallman will take on a range of fast and experienced rising talents in the RX2e series. Kalle Pinomäki, from SET Promotion, is confident about what Hallman can accomplish in the next race: “Tommi has shown his class in recent seasons in various different championships, and while he has not been competing this year, he has been very busy taking every opportunity he can. Now he has the chance to get back in a car, it will be interesting to see how he can adapt to racing in RX2e. Even if we at SET are not running the car for Tommi for these events, we are very much behind him as we have been over the last few years. It’s always a big challenge to join a single-specification championship mid-season and take on the regulars, but I know he is preparing hard to give himself the best chance possible”.
For his pair of starts in the latest iteration of single-specification support class rallycross in the World RX package, Hallman’s car will run under the SET Promotion banner, operated by series promotor QEV Technologies.
