Patrik Sandell: US rallycross is ‘ready for proper competition’

Subaru Motorsports driver Patrik Sandell says that rallycross is ‘ready for proper competition’ following IMG’s first year of running the domestic US series.

The World Rallycross promoters effectively took over from Global Rallycross after it went out of business at the start of last year, with a number of teams and drivers, including Sandell and Subaru, moving over to the newly-formed Americas Rallycross series.

As well as a new name and parent, rallycross’ premier US competition also reverted to the traditional race format used in World RX as opposed to the entertainment-focused, TV-friendly setup of GRC.

Sandell, who was a three-time race winner in GRC, told DominikWilde.com that while GRC’s way of doing things was the best thing to do at the time, now the sport of rallycross has more of a foothold in the US, it’s right that it should switch to a more traditional, competition-driven format.

“I think that GRC worked in a way where they put the show in front of the competition which at the time in America was necessary because rallycross came from nowhere,” said the Swede. “We needed to build the sport and we as drivers understood that because if we don’t have any media coverage or people showing up to the races, no manufacturer wants to be involved.”

“The whole weekend [in GRC] was around the show. For example, you could sit on the start line for sometimes one minute, sometimes 10 minutes – it all depended on the TV broadcast to make it 100 percent perfect for the broadcast,” he continued. “Now with ARX it’s kind of gone to a more professional competition – it’s run more for the competition side of it than the show, as they have copied how rallycross works in Europe.”

Despite hailing from Europe, Sandell understood the need for rallycross in the US to take the direction it did initially, and says that it laid the groundwork for IMG’s current World-RX-aligned championship.

“I liked both, I understand the full picture. I’ve been in the sport for so long so if GRC wouldn’t have done things the way they did I don’t think IMG would even be interested in going to America because then there wouldn’t have been any sport there,” he said. “GRC did the right thing, but now with IMG and ARX I believe they’re doing the right thing.”

“If IMG would have been there from the beginning and all the focus was on the competition and not the show – not to say they’re not focusing on the show but the main thing is to have a good competition – I don’t know if that would have worked in America,” Sandell added. “No one knew about the sport and GRC was really pushing it into the cities. GRC did it good back in the day but now rallycross in America is now ready for proper competition that IMG is offering.”