Cindric, van Gisbergen trade stock cars for rallycross at RallyX Americas test

NASCAR stars Shane van Gisbergen and Austin Cindric sampled rallycross machinery at RallyX Americas’ second official open test day on Thursday, getting behind the wheel of a variety of cars that will be competing in the series when it kicks off later this year.

For van Gisbergen, it was a first real taste of rallycross – he took part in World Rallycross’ Esports invitational competition during the COVID-19 pandemic. He drove the 1,000 horsepower all-electric FC1, which debuted in the now-defunct Nitrocross series and will form the premier class of RallyX Americas, as well as the sustainably-fuelled, combustion-engined FC2.

“I got the invite to come to Charlotte Motor Speedway with the Rally X Americas cars, drove the RC1 then the RC2 as well – did it a bit backwards,” said the Trackhouse Racing Cup Series driver. “This thing [the RC1] was impressive; the speed that it had and how it accelerated. I'd never driven an electric car before, and it was just epic.

“So, really fun, how you can drive them, and I’d love to come back and race against a few of my mates, too. That will be fun as well. So hopefully I’ll do some more soon.”

For Cindric it was a return to a familiar environment. In his formative years, Cindric competed in Global Rallycross’ GRC Lites series, winning four times en route to second in the 2015 standings. He also made two starts in GRC's headline Supercar Class two years later, and raced the FC1 in Nitrocross in Phoenix back in 2022 – a weekend which also had Chase Elliott competing.

At the test, Cindric drove the FC2 – an evolution of the Super Car Lites machine he raced previously – as well as an entry-level 150 horsepower FC5 CrossCar.

“As a teenager, I drove the RX Lites car a ton, and it's basically just the same thing with the turbocharger on it,” Cindric said of his FC2 experience. “So it's cool to kind of relive some of that, but better.”

There has been plenty of NASCAR and rallycross crossover since the sport found its way to the U.S. at the beginning of last decade. As well as Cindric and Elliott’s aforementioned forays, Kyle Busch also raced in Nitrocross and Joey Logano has tested a car previously, while former drivers Scott Speed and Steve Arpin were long-time competitors, the former being a four-time champion. A number of early GRC races were also held as part of NASCAR race weekends.

RallyX Americas held its first open test day in Orlando back in February. The inaugural season will begin at Crandon International Raceway on June 20-21, followed by rounds at Eldora Raceway the week after, and Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières in Canada on August 22-23. There will also be invitational events at the Crandon World Cup on September 5-6, and the RallyX Global event at Montalegre in Portugal on October 24-25 for participating drivers.