Ramona Karlsson becomes first female World Rallycross driver
Ramona Karlsson will become the first female to race in the new-for-2014 World Rallycross Championship this season
The experienced rally driver has signed a deal to race an Eklund Motorsport Saab 93 Supercar in a minimum of seven events in 2014.
She will be joined in the team by World Rally Championship driver Henning Solberg, who will contest selected rounds of the world series.
"It feels great to be working with Per Eklund, one of Sweden's top racing drivers," said Karlsson.
"The team has a lot of experience, and the Supercar class is where the most extreme rallycross cars are, so I'm excited to be involved.
"I'm obviously looking to fight with the top drivers. I can't wait to get the season underway in Portugal."
While Karlsson will race at the first event of the series in Portugal, Solberg's first drive will be at round two, the AUTOSPORT World RX of Great Britain.
The Norwegian raced an Eklund Saab in 2013, and made the final at Holjes in Sweden.
The cars will again be engineered by experienced team boss Eklund.
"Henning is very quick, last year he did no testing before events and still got good results, he is a proper driver," said Eklund.
"It feels really fun and exciting with Ramona in the team. She was fast in rallying, and rallycross now becomes a new challenge.
"We previously invested in young Finn Toomas 'Topi' Heikkinen when he came into rallycross, and now he is one of the fastest in the world.
"It feels extra fun with a female driver, something that has never occurred before. It will be very interesting and exciting to follow Ramona's development."
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