Sverre Isachsen Three Time Rally Cross Champion
Update 12/23/11
Comp Turbo congratulates Isachsen Motorsport for the 2011 European Rally Cross Championship.
Gallery
European Rallycross Champion
Isachsen Motorsport 2010
Rallycross is probably the most action packed and most entertaining motorsport there is, and give the fans the best from rally and racing. In rallycross the heats are short, but entertaining with 5-6 cars on the starting line, and everything will be decided in 5- 6 laps on a short track with both gravel, tarmac and often jumps as well.
In rallycross you will see crashes, jumps and drifting from some of the fastest racecars in the world. The small rallycross cars have four wheel drive and more than 500 BHP, and they are almost as fast as a Formula 1 car from 0 to 100 km/h.
History
Rallycross started as a TV-Show in Great Britain in 1967, where the best rally drivers in the country was invited to race against each other on a short gravel track. The event was a huge success with the TV-viewers and the European Championship started with a lot of interest from the Nordic countries, Great Britain, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany and the Eastern Europe.
Kenneth Hansen has most titles, and the Swede is still active, but the biggest legend in the sport is probably Norway's Martin Schanche.
Rallycross has almost always been a motorsport for the independent driver, and not so much for the big factory teams like you see in for example Formula 1 and the World Rally Championship. This has made the sport cheaper and more afordable for a lot of big talents. But the sport is still very proffesional, and the best rallycross teams today have annual budgets of around 500 000 euro.
Today rallycross is better, more popular and more professional than ever. The level among the top drivers is very high, and the races are packed with thousands of spectators. Legends like Kenneth Hansen goes head to head with the new generation of drivers like Sverre Isachsen and Liam Doran. And you also have super stars like Francois Duval and Tanner Foust in the races. The media coverage is also huge, and now the sport is also starting in the USA – and was a part of the gigantic X Games for the first time this summer.
The European Championship
10 races all over Europe makes up the ERC, and all the races are held on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday it is free practice, qualifying and the first heat. On Sunday it's time for the second and third heat and the A-finals.
All the drivers compete in the heats, with five drivers racing each other each time. The one with the best time is the winner of the heat. After the three heats it's possible to drop your slowest time, and then it's time for the C-final. The winner goes through to the B-final, and the winner in the B-final is one of the six drivers in the A-final.
The cars
In European rallycross there are three classes. Division 1A for front wheel drive cars with 1,6 liter engines. Division 2 for rear wheel drive cars with 2,0 liter engines, and division 1 for four wheel drive cars with 2,0 liter turbo engines.
The cars in division 1 looks like the WRC-cars, and you will find cars like Ford Focus, Ford Fiesta, Citroën C4, Volvo C30, Renault Clio and Skoda Fabia in this class.
The cars are not as technichal as the WRC-cars, but they are faster with a 45 mm turbo restrictor and more than 500 BHP.
Sverre Isachsen
The European Champion the last two years is Sverre Isachsen. The 39 year old Norwegian has probably the most proffesional team in international rallycross, and also won the Nordic and the Norwegian Championship with his Ford Focus in 2010.
Name: Sverre Isachsen
Born: 11.11.1970
Family: Gro Anita and the kids Sander and Dina
Lives: Hokksund, Norway
Club: KNA Eiker
Stats:
2004: Seventh in ERC, Norwegian Champion
2005: Third in ERC
2006: Fourth in ERC (won most races)
2007 : Fourth in ERC
2008 : Fourth in ERC
2009 : European Champion!
2010: European Champion, Nordic Champion, Norwegian Champion!
www.isachsenmotorsport.no