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| PHOTO CREDIT: Red Bull Content Pool |
Eight months ago, GCK Motorsport unveiled its plan to return to the FIA World Rallycross Championship with the iconic Lancia Delta Integrale, "a vehicle that made us all dream. It is a rally car par excellence - without a double the most incredible of its era - one that remains hugely popular to this day," Guerlain Chicherit, Special ONE Racing driver and team founder said.
Having made its debut on German soil last November [2022], the Lancia Evo-e RX immediately showed some promise, but after a 16 G impact against a wall after contact at turn two. The damage took some time to repair, and thus Sunday [day 2] was instead used as a test session.
The Lancia Delta has returned in 2023, this time with Special ONE Racing, a team founded by Guerlain Chicherit, a Dakar Rally driver and former freeskiing champion. But what's more iconic about the team this year, is the bringing together of two "L's" - Sebastien Loeb and the Lancia Delta.
"I’m from a generation that was brought up seeing wins by Lancia Deltas in rallying, so naturally I have a weakness for this car," Loeb said. "When Guerlain spoke to me the first time about tackling a rallycross season with it, I thought he was mad! Then I tried the car last December and was immediately won over by its dynamic qualities. I have great faith in this project and I can’t wait to champion it on tracks around the world."
The Frenchman to date has made the finals on both occasions, with a sixth-place finish in Portugal, and a fifth-place in Hell, Norway, but the team has some catching up to do.
Sébastien Lesonneur, Team Manager of Special ONE Racing, explains: "We don't have data on every circuit in the championship because the regulations limit us to eight days of private testing per year, with power limited to 350 instead of 500 kW. We're starting from a bit further back than our rivals who came here last year. That's the game."
Despite the project being in its infancy, Sébastien Loeb set the third-fastest time on Saturday [last week] behind the dominant Volkswagen Dealerteam BAUHAUS team. The same can not be said for Guerlain Chicherit, who finished 10th in the SuperPole session.
Chicherit was on for a second-place finish in Heat 2 on Saturday, but unfortunately, made the mistake of activating the "paddock mode button on the final lap, and finishing last. The error impacted the Frenchman's weekend, as he would line up in the last position for Heat 3. A very difficult deficit to overcome. The French driver was unable to make up this deficit before the semi-finals, where his weekend came to an end.
"We did some very good runs this weekend. The braking is incredible with this car. On the other hand, we're finding it harder to get traction coming out of corners. We spin a lot. We've tried different set-ups, but we haven't really found the key," Chicherit said. "We've still got a bit of work to do if we want to get on the podium, but we're working on it."
Whilst team-mate Loeb's Sunday wasn't all plain sailing either. Slightly trapped by the Kristoffersson Motorsport drivers at the start of Heat 4, he managed to snatch a position for the final, but from the third row, a position that didn't allow him to fight for the podium.
"We arrived here with a better level than in Portugal. But in rallycross, the success of a weekend can be decided by very little, and a single bad start often compromises what happens next. We're still in the final once again... But starting from the third row isn't easy. We're continuing to understand things about the car and I'm getting more and more comfortable with its balance," Loeb said.
Can the Lancia Delta name/brand return to winning ways? They sure can, but that can only truly happen once they unlock the untapped potential of their new car.
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