Preparation for the inaugural RallyX Americas season continued Thursday with an additional open test session outside of zMAX Dragway in Concord, North Carolina. From NASCAR Cup Series stars to off-road racers, influencers to micro sprint car drivers and even sim racers, Thursday’s sessions had a little bit of everything.

Following two days of testing at Orlando Speed World in February, Thursday’s session returned the Hypercar, Supercar, and Crosscar classes to action. Daytona 500 winner Austin Cindric and NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year and Supercars champion Shane Van Gisbergen dominated the headlines as word spread that they were on hand, and between them, they sampled all three divisions.

“(It) was impressive, the speed that it had and how it accelerated,” Van Gisbergen said about the First Corner FC1 used in the Hypercar class. “I’d never driven an electric car before, and it was just epic. It’s really fun how you can drive them, and I’d love to come back and race against a few of my mates, too.”

“As a teenager, I drove the RX Lites car a ton, and (the FC2) is basically just the same thing with the turbocharger on it,” added Cindric, who sampled both the First Corner FC2 and Speedcar Wonder and has raced the FC1 multiple times. “It was fun to relive some of those days, and it’s definitely cool to see some momentum building again.”

Also on hand Thursday morning was Bristol 1000 winner and YouTube star Brad DeBerti, who was making a return to rallycross himself after running multiple events in 2019. While he’s no stranger to high-horsepower builds, including his 1,600 horsepower twin turbo Ford Raptor R, DeBerti was quite impressed by his time in the Hypercar.

“I just got out of that car—unreal,” said DeBerti. “0 to 60 in 1.6 seconds, and it feels every bit of that in the way it shifts. I had Oliver (Eriksson) in the seat and we were just ripping. I would love to do this full-time one day!”

Mia Chapman and Jim Beaver were among those representing the worlds of off-road truck and UTV racing on Thursday. Coming off an appearance at Red Bull Showrun in Phoenix earlier this month, Chapman turned her first laps in the FC1, while Beaver, who was on the mic for RallyX Americas’ inaugural demonstration race at Crandon International Raceway last summer, took the wheel of both the FC1 and FC2.

“It was an absolute blast, I’ve never driven anything like it before,” Chapman said. “There are a lot of learning curves, but they’re super fast cars. I’m looking forward to getting some more seat time in these.”

“That was so much fun!” added Beaver. “I had to find the limit of the car. I hadn’t been in one of these in 10 years, but it all came back to me. We were flying down the back section!”

As in Orlando, the Crosscar class was represented by multiple brands, with the RallyX Americas debut of the Ligier XC04 alongside Global CrossKart’s Speedcar Wonder and the First Corner FC5. Most test drivers were able to try out multiple cars over the course of the day. Hypercar and Supercar testers were once again coached by Kevin and Oliver Eriksson and Mitchell deJong.

Attention now turns to the start of the RallyX Americas season at Crandon in June, with seats still available in all major classes. Drivers interested in exploring race seats or additional testing opportunities can email chris.leone@rallyx.se for more information.