Ide heads home in high spirits

Two years ago, Enzo Ide made his rallycross debut on home soil at Spa-Francorchamps. Next weekend (9-10 October), the Belgian will return to the iconic Ardennes circuit eager to put on a spectacular show for the partisan fans, as he increasingly gets to grips with the demanding dual-surface discipline.

Following sporadic appearances in 2019 and 2020, this year marks Ide’s first full campaign in the FIA World Rallycross Championship, and in KYB EKS JC team-mate Johan Kristoffersson – three times a title-winner at the international pinnacle of the sport – he has the perfect teacher.

Despite discovering many of the tracks for the first time, the former sportscar racer is regularly taking the fight to his more experienced adversaries, and at Höljes last month, he progressed through to the final for the first time in his World RX career, going on to take the chequered flag an impressive fourth, barely a second-and-a-half shy of the rostrum.

Indeed, Ide has been regularly racking up the points, and despite what he describes as a ‘tough’ weekend in Riga last time out, the 30-year-old is pleased with the progress he has been making and is looking forward to maintaining his upward momentum at his home circuit.

“I’m happy with my season so far,” he acknowledged. “I keep reiterating that it’s a learning year for me and we’ve had our ups-and-downs, but that’s all part of the process. I’ve been learning about the speed, the contact, the jumps, the starts, how to do it right and how not to do it.

“In Riga, I also learned that it is very, very difficult to go and race on a rallycross track that I have never driven on before and with just eight laps of free practice, and that was reflected in our results there. That was a tough weekend for me, but through more seat time and by learning from my mistakes, I know better results will come.

“Fortunately, I have a great team behind me and an ideal team-mate to help me to get comfortable in the car and improve my consistency, which is one important aspect that I still need to work on quite hard.

“I’m lucky to be able to observe how Johan works during a race weekend. He explains everything to me and gives me lots of tips and advice, from the way the grid draw works to track walks and the information I should ask my spotter to tell me while racing – you name it. He is, in my opinion, one of the greatest rallycross drivers of all time, so it’s fantastic to be his team-mate.

“Now, I’m looking forward to my home round very much. It will be special to have my family, friends and partners there and Spa was my very first rallycross event, so to compete at my home track again will be an amazing feeling.”