Nika Racing to skip France, and will switch to Chevrolet from Slovakia

Nika Racing have confirmed they will skip the opening round of the World Touring Car Championship this weekend in Paul Ricard, delaying their return to the second race weekend at the Slovakiaring, but have also announced a last minute switch back to the RML-built Chevrolet Cruze TC1, ending their two-year relationship with Honda.

The team have released a statement saying they were already working towards the switch to Chevrolet for 2017, a manufacturer with which the team had a long-standing relationship with ever since the 2006 Swedish Touring Car Championship season. However, due to “an attractive offer”, the team have now confirmed they will make the change this year, becoming the fifth Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 entered for the season.

“The car change was planned for 2017 but thanks to a very attractive offer, we decided to make this change already this year,” said the team. “By implementing this shift now, we move closer to our planned development of the team in other classes and series in which GM has an interest. We believe that Nika International together with former partner GM could form an again active partnership where the team could develop in many directions, both national as well as internationally.”

The team won the 2011 STCC drivers’ title with Rickard Rydell with a Chevrolet Cruze, and then won the 2012 STCC manufacturers’ title for Chevrolet Sweden, before joining the WTCC full-time as a privateer entry in 2013 with Michel Nykjaer, following Chevrolet’s withdrawal from the European market.

The team switched to Honda for 2014, entering one race with Yukinori Taniguchi as a forerunner to a 2015 campaign with a new TC1 Civic for Rydell, in a season which was curtailed due to illness and budget issues, with the team missing the last half of the year.

The team’s new driver for 2016 is 21-year-old John Bryant-Meisner, who will be making his WTCC debut at the Slovakiaring on April 17th.