It’s not much by any measure, but 0.011 seconds represented a victory of sorts for electric racing over the traditional internal combustion engine when the World Rallycross Championship visited Norway’s Hell circuit in August. The 38.058s fastest lap set by KMS VW driver Johan Kristoffersson on his way to victory in the first round of World RX’s new electric era just shaded the 38.069s from Andreas Bakkerud’s conventionally propelled EKS Audi in the European RX1 final held on the same day.
That’s no mean feat given the work needed to accommodate the spec, twin-motor Kreisel Electric four-wheel-drive powertrain kit – which packs a 500kW punch. “It was not as simple as just removing the internal combustion engine and putting in the electric powertrain,” points out Hansen World RX Team boss Kenneth Hansen, who runs two Peugeot 208 RX1e cars for sons Timmy and Kevin. That explains why the first round was twice postponed, from Holjes to the Nurburgring – which has been rescheduled – before getting underway in Hell.
