New name at Volkswagen Dealerteam BAUHAUS for Lydden Hill

Johan Kristoffersson and Ole Christian Veiby will have a new team-mate in the FIA World Rallycross Championship in the upcoming round at Lydden Hill (22-23 July), as Euro RX1 event-winner Sondre Evjen joins Volkswagen Dealerteam BAUHAUS in place of Gustav Bergström.

Due to a prior commitment, Bergström – three times a podium-finisher in rallycross’ top flight during his rookie campaign in 2022 – is unable to race at Lydden, prompting the Swedish outfit to draft in Evjen as his replacement.

The Norwegian has been a familiar name on the rallycross scene for many years, and is also no stranger to Kristoffersson Motorsport, the team behind the Volkswagen Dealerteam BAUHAUS World RX effort. In 2019 and 2020, he competed for KMS in Euro RX’s headlining Supercar category (now Euro RX1), placing seventh and third in the end-of-season standings and reaching the rostrum for the first time in Rīga in his sophomore season.

In 2022, Evjen got the better of champion-elect Anton Marklund to register his maiden victory in the Latvian capital – one of two podium results from three starts that year. He has also shone in RallyX Nordic, achieving top three championship finishes in the Supercar Lites class in 2018 and 2019 and then at Supercar level in 2021.

The 25-year-old has previously raced at Lydden Hill in World RX feeder series’ RX Lites and RX2, and he is excited to step up to the World Championship’s new electric era for the first time next weekend.

“It’s going to be really fun!” he enthuses. “I have long wanted to drive one of the electric cars in World RX. I’m really looking forward to it, although I’m of course also a bit nervous. I can’t set my hopes too high for my first time, but I want to get a feel for the car and try to find the flow.

“I have spoken to Johan a bit and he says it’s a very fun car to drive. When I competed for KMS in the European Championship, I ran with a similar set-up to him so let’s hope it works that way with the electric car as well! He and Ole Christian will certainly be getting a few questions from me this weekend...”

Team principal Tommy Kristoffersson has kept tabs on Evjen’s career in recent campaigns, and while the Ål native has not yet sat in a rallycross car this year, the multiple Swedish champion is confident that he will prove to be an asset to the squad. Although the initial agreement is for one event only, he does not rule out further appearances.

“We discussed before the season whether we could do something together in Euro RX, but we couldn’t make it happen,” Kristoffersson reveals. “Now that Gustav has another assignment, Sondre was the first person I thought of.

“I saw the potential when he was with us before, even if there were also things he needed to learn. Now he has gone to school with Joel [Christoffersson] at JC Raceteknik and matured as a driver. He is good at reading situations on-track and positioning himself in the right place, which means he rarely gets into trouble.

“You never know what will happen next. I see Sondre as an extra resource and a possible reserve with us, and I want to give him the opportunity to show what he can do.”