BEHIND THE WHEEL OF A MODERN-DAY RALLYCROSS CLASSIC
The champagne on the Volland Racing team’s awning floor has barely had time to dry as, having ascended the winding mountain road from the Portuguese town of Chaves, I arrived at the Montalegre rallycross circuit for a special track test.
Not unusually when arriving for tests on weekdays, the Montalegre paddock was mostly empty. Just 14 hours earlier, it had been a hive of activity as teams in the World and European Rallycross Championships loaded up to hit the road for home following an intensive back-to-back week of events.
While the headline-makers in the headline World RX category had left Portugal with the title still to be decided, the Euro RX RX3 (Super1600) teams have departed following the conclusion of the front-wheel-drive season. One RX3 squad remained however, and I was set to realise a long-standing aspiration.
German outfit Volland Racing is the dominant force of RX3 in the modern era. ItsAudiA1s stand at the top of the class in a field where the margins are tiny, and the squad had remained at the Montalegre circuit to allow me the opportunity to sample its machinery.
And it wasn’t just in any car either, but theA1 owned and driven by Swiss-based Russian Yury Belevskiy who, just the previous day,
