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V8 Supercars driver Macauley Jones will take to the wheel of an Extreme Rallycross car during the launch of Lakeside Raceway’s new facility tomorrow (Saturday).
The 20-year-old is set to drive the category’s Supercar Lite Ford Fiesta as part of a shakedown day ahead of the September 4-5 season kick-off at the same venue.
The link with Extreme Rallycross comes through its promoter David Ridden, whose previous motorsport involvement included a minor sponsorship with BJR.
“I’ve always watched it (rallycross) on TV and it’s a cool form of racing, quite short, sharp and quick,” Jones told Speedcafe.com of electing to take up the test offer.
“I think it helps to do as many things as possible to be able to broaden your driving style as well.
“You’ve got to be fast out of the gate and be on it every lap. It’s also quite strategic with the joker lap.
“We’ve worked a bit with rally drivers through the FIA Academy and I’ve really found that you can pick up a lot of new techniques from that kind of driving, as well as just pure car control.”
Although Ridden is hopeful of Jones signing up to race in the series, the V8 Supercars rising star admits that major funding would need to be found in order to compete.
“We’re planning on doing the test, seeing what it’s all like and keeping our options open,” said Jones.
“If something comes up that can financially help us then we’ll look at doing it, but at the moment we’ll just get through the test and see what the car and the series is like.”
Alister McRae, who is currently the only driver confirmed to race in the Supercar Lite class, and stunt man Matt Mingay are also expected to steer the car during the day.
They will share the course with competitors from the championship’s other production-based four and two-wheel-drive classes.
Ridden says the shakedown day is a perfect opportunity to test the format, circuit and all the systems ahead of his series’ September launch.
“I think it is a great opportunity to fine tune so when we get there in September we are ready,” Ridden told Speedcafe.com of the day, which will be open to the public.
“We are treating it as a dress rehearsal in terms of having all the timing systems in place.
“It is going to be good to have Alister there to get feedback on the track so we can fine tune that.”
The Extreme Rallycross Championship and Bob Watson’s Rallycross Australia are understood to have been the only two to lodge a response to CAMS’ call for expressions of interest to search for a national series to officially sanction.
The deadline for lodging interest expires today (Friday).
Rallycross Australia had planned to host rounds at Broadford in Victoria in July and October but management at the circuit decided it was too much of a financial risk to proceed.
