Top rallycross trio included in 2024 Team Norway selection

Three of the leading lights on the international rallycross scene – Ole Christian Veiby, Andreas Bakkerud and Sivert Svardal – have been named as part of the Norwegian Motorsport Federation’s national team programme for 2024.

Run by Norges Bilsportforbund (NBF), Team Norway annually unites the fastest and most promising Norwegian talents competing in the sport, with the 19-strong ‘Elite’ squad made up of the country’s foremost athletes participating at the highest levels of their chosen discipline.

From a largely rallying-focussed background, Veiby has spent the past two seasons firmly establishing himself as a front-runner in the FIA World Rallycross Championship, reaching the rostrum seven times from 17 outings to-date for Volkswagen Dealerteam BAUHAUS.

A former ‘Motorsport Athlete of the Year’ in Norway, Bakkerud has clinched the FIA European Rallycross Championship crown on three occasions – in the Super1600 category in 2011 and 2012 and then at the higher Euro RX1 level in 2021. The 32-year-old finished runner-up in the World Championship standings in 2019 and counts seven career victories to his name in the discipline’s top-flight. His most recent appearance came in Euro RX1 at Höljes last year.

A fortnight earlier, Svardal had pulled off one of the surprises of the season, producing a sensational performance to popularly triumph on home soil in Hell. Doggedly holding off a hard-charging Anton Marklund in the final, he took the chequered flag first by the slender margin of 0.065s in a dramatic photo-finish.

To prove that was no flash in the pan, the 24-year-old – winner of NBF’s prestigious Bilsporttalentet competition for rising stars in 2019 – similarly progressed to the final in the following rounds in Sweden and Belgium, and punched consistently above his weight throughout behind the wheel of his family-run Volkswagen Polo. He has confirmed he will rejoin the fray in 2024 for a concerted title tilt.

“It’s of course a huge honour to get selected to represent the national team and my own country,” Svardal enthused. “I have been part of Team Norway since 2019, and to now begin my sixth year on the programme is a tremendous validation that they recognise and believe in my talent and abilities as a driver.

“We have some amazing motorsport athletes in a lot of different disciplines in Norway, and it’s just awesome to be a part of the team together with them all. Hopefully I can repay NBF’s trust with a season where I continue my progression and achieve some top results.”