Dufas aiming to ‘achieve something meaningful’ with newly-built VW Polo

Dufas’ history in the FIA European Rallycross Championship has been short but successful. In the third of his four appearances to-date – at Germany’s Estering in 2023 – he triumphed, bringing to an end an eight-year drought of French winners in the Euro RX3/Super1600 category.

This year will mark the Normandy native’s first complete season in any series since 2021 – and he is going in all guns blazing.

In tandem with Aurélien Gérault’s RX Evolution outfit, Dufas is aiming to shake up the hierarchy in a class in which nobody piloting anything other than an Audi A1 has clinched the crown for almost a decade. The former French Junior Rallycross Champion believes he can finally be the one to break the mould.

“The goal is to take on the Audis,” Dufas explained, “but we didn’t want to do what everyone else is doing. We enjoy a challenge, so we chose to design and build our own car – one that should allow us to achieve something meaningful from the very first season and go head-to-head with the Audis on their own turf.

“The level in Europe is extremely high. Contesting a full campaign is a major challenge, but if we weren’t convinced of this car’s potential, we would never have launched the project.”

The ambitious initiative has been 12 months in the making, and underlines the 29-year-old Caen-born ace’s determination to truly take the fight to the current category benchmark. While the Renault Clio with which he prevailed at Buxtehude three years ago has long been a solid platform on the domestic scene, certain characteristics of the European calendar ultimately pushed RX Evolution to reconsider its philosophy.

On paper, at least, the Polo already looks promising, and Dufas’ confidence is shared by Gérault, who was tasked with designing and developing the new model entirely in-house. Leveraging its experience with the Clio, RX Evolution intends to capitalise upon a proven technical foundation while exploring new opportunities with a car whose chassis has been tailored specifically to suit European circuits – with the broader ambition of helping to drive Euro RX3 forward.

“We had reached a kind of limit with the Clio,” Gérault acknowledged. “At this level, everything comes down to fine margins, and we needed to go in a new direction to keep progressing so we chose to start from a different base, with an approach adapted to the demands of the European Championship. Introducing a new car is also important to energise the category, to attract new competitors and potential customers.”

Following the opening round of the campaign at the historic Biķernieku trase in the Latvian capital of Rīga on 9-10 May, participants will go on to lock horns at Nyirád in Hungary (30-31 May), Höljes in Sweden (4-5 July), Mondello Park in Ireland (18-19 July), Dufas’ home track of Lohéac in France (29-30 August) and finally Lousada in Portugal, where champions will be crowned on 12-13 September.