2016 Honda Civic Coupe enters Global Rally Cross series

Honda will be entering a series of motorsport that will be completely new to the brand. They have announced their entry to the Global World Rallycross Series and they will be using the all-new Civic as their race car. Sponsored by Red Bull Racing, Honda will run a 2016 Civic Coupe in the series and has tapped championship-winning race team Olsbergs MSE.

Developed from a production-model 2016 Civic Coupe, the cats will be prepped by Olsbergs MSE (OMSE) with technical assistance from Honda Performance Development (HPD). The car will boast more than 600 horsepower, turn in a 0-60 mph time of 1.9 seconds and is designed to handle the 70 foot table-top jumps featured on each racetrack.

“Global Rallycross is seriously extreme racing, and it’s a terrific platform to showcase the new Civic Coupe to an enthusiastic, performance-minded young audience. We won’t encourage our customers to take 70-foot jumps out on the street, but we will use this platform to tell people about all the incredible technology and performance capabilities of our new Civic Coupe.” said Nick Lee, National Advertising Manager, American Honda Motor Co, Inc.

Driving the 2016 Honda Civic Red Bull GRC car for Team Honda are Sebastian Eriksson and Joni Wiman. Eriksson and Wiman have both made their mark in the series, with Wiman winning the 2014 Global Rallycross Championship and Eriksson finishing second in 2015. The two met in competition during the 2013 GRC Lites season, where Eriksson finished runner-up to Wiman, who swept the series.

The 2016 Honda Global Rallycross Civic will mark its racing debut on May 21 and May 22 with a double header event at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in Phoenix, Arizona.