FOR DTM AND RALLYCROSS DOUBLE HEADER Round two of the FIA World Rallycross Championship presented by Monster Energy takes place at the famous Hockenheimring later this week (6-8 May) as the World RX teams and drivers compete alongside the DTM German Touring Car Championship for a weekend of exhilarating motorsport action.Twenty-one 600bhp World RX Supercars will compete at the specially-constructed rallycross circuit within the famous Sachs Curve at Hockenheim including reigning World RX Champion and round one winner, Petter Solberg. Solberg took the win at the inaugural Hockenheim RX last year, ahead of Reinis Nitiss and Timmy Hansen who finished second and third respectively.Solberg will be joined by a host of other rallycross talents including last year’s Championship runner-up Hansen plus 2016 newcomers Sebastien Loeb and Ken Block. On top of the 17 permanent teams and drivers, France's Davy Jeanney and Sweden's Kevin Hansen will embark on their second outings of the year in the Peugeot Hansen Academy team, while Austria's Max Pucher and France's Jean-Baptiste Dubourg will both make their first starts of the season.Hockenheim will also form the season-opener to this year’s RX Lites Cup – a one-make series for identical 300bhp, four-wheel drive racecars that appears at seven of the World RX events and which provided career steps for Kevin Hansen and permanent Supercar driver Kevin Eriksson.There will be nine RX Lites entries competing at Hockenheim including last year's title challenger Thomas Bryntesson (Norway), his compatriot Simon Wago Syversen plus Sweden’s Alexander Westlund and Simon Olofsson. The Olsbergs MSE squad will run three cars: Cyril Raymond (France) Tejas Hirani (Kenya) and German Sport 1 television presenter, Patrick Simon. Sondre Evjen and Joachim Hvaal will join Bryntesson in the JC Race Teknik team.The driver with the busiest schedule of the weekend, however, is EKS driver Mattias Ekstrom who will compete in both World RX and DTM. “To race in both series is a great challenge, but I love these kind of challenges,” explained Ekstrom. Although the busy EKS boss did not compete at Hockenheim last year, he was able to test the track at an official test last month: “They’ve made a lot of improvements and I like the track. The starting area is on a drag strip, which is very slippery in wet conditions, but after our two-day test in Holjes, I’m really confident.”

Paul Bellamy, World RX Managing Director for IMG, commented: “We have created an exciting schedule of races this weekend at the renowned Hockenheimring – and we can promise even more rallycross action as the RX Lites drivers join us for the first time this season.”

From a Cooper Tire point of view. Paul Coates, General Manager – Motorsport, Cooper Tire Europe, commented: “For 2016 there is a revised track layout at the Hockenheimring. We have monitored wear rates in the initial World Rallycross tests here this season to determine the levels of expected abrasion. From the data that we have collated, we are confident that the tyres should run well within the suggested 120°C upper temperature limit.”Hockenheim RX TimetableThursday 5 May1700: Drivers’ draw for Q1 plus pre-event press conferenceFriday 6 May0905: World RX open practice1030: RX Lites open practice1125: Audi Sport TT Cup free practice1230: Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland free practice1355: World RX & RX Lites qualifying1445: DTM press conference1515: World RX qualifying1700: DTM free practice 1Saturday 7 May0905: Audi Sport TT Cup qualifying0950: Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland qualifying1120: DTM free practice 21210: Audi Sport TT Cup race 11305: Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland race 11350: DTM qualifying for race 11600: DTM race 11715: World RX warm-up1720: DTM press conference1725: World RX qualifying1755: RX Lites semi-final1820: RX Lites finalSunday 8 May0910: Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland race 21000: DTM free practice 31100: World RX warm-up1110: World RX semi-finals1130: Stunt driver1140: World RX FINAL1150: World RX podium ceremony1215: World RX press conference1230: DTM qualifying for race 21430: DTM race 21545 (approx.): DTM podium ceremony1610: DTM press conference1620: Audi Sport TT Cup race 2