Norwegian Mats Lysen is keen to compete with an all-new Renault Clio Mk3, preferably in the all-new FIA European Rallycross Championship.

Despite of major changes in the 2013 European Rallycross Championship 21 years old Mats Lysen is set to start also in the future in the SuperCars category. The Norwegian has driven SuperCars during the last three ERC seasons, and in 2009 has been the youngest European champion ever, winning the Super1600s title when he was just 17 years of age. But now he is trying to make his dream come true, winning a Gold medal also in SuperCars.

Mats Lysen: “I’m not sure yet if I will be at the start line in Lydden Hill. For sure I’m aiming for a full season, but currently do not have the whole budget together. About 50% of the needed 1.4 million Norwegian Crowns are together now, but perfect would be a budget of 2 millions. The main target is to drive with IMG, but it could be possible that I have to compete in the new Challenge. We have not signed with IMG yet, but hope to be able to as quick as possible. We did not sell the old Mk3 Clio yet, one solution could be to rent it out.”

Since promoter IMG has purchased the ERC rights from the FIA Lysen is excited about the new competition system to come. Helmia Motorsport, the experienced team of Swede Stig-Olov Walfridsson, is building for “Stecka” himself as well as for Lysen two all-new Renault Clio Mk3 SuperCars. The new cars should ensure that the Swedish-Norwegian duo will be able to fight for top placings in the years to come. “The biggest difference between the old and the new car is that we can race with 5-cylinder engines soon, and that will give us some welcome advantage over the 4-cylinder units we used so far. I fully trust in the new Clio and actually do not want to drive any other car in 2013,” claims Mats.

“The competition will be very tough and it seems that there will be some ‘newcomers’ to show up in IMG Rallycross. Several of those expected to the start lines will come from Rallying. Rumours have it that even Petter Solberg will be among them, so the fight for the medals can become an affair between some good Norwegians. If Petter comes it will lead to a boost of new interest for the sport, along with the new competition format of course.”

Note: We at ERC24 understood that the new 5-cylinder engines will be based on 1999 Renault Safran engine blocks. According to the current ‘Technical Regulations for Rallycross Cars’ [3.6 Engine] this is allowed by the rule “the engine is free, but the engine block must be from a model of car of the same original trademark as the car’s original bodywork.”