Early-season star Trepák to return for FIA Rallycross World Cup

Andor Trepák was one of the undisputed stars of the first part of the 2026 FIA European Rallycross Championship campaign, belying his lack of experience with a number of giant-killing displays. Having been absent from the international scene since Nyirád at the end of May, he is now preparing to rejoin the fray – for the inaugural FIA Rallycross World Cup. 

A standout showing on home soil last year – when he topped the timesheets in his very first Euro RX1 Qualifying session, similarly outpacing all of the FIA World Rallycross Championship protagonists aside from Johan Kristoffersson – had already hinted at Trepák’s palpable potential. In his two subsequent outings in the series earlier this season, he confirmed it.

After going sixth-quickest amongst the 29 high-calibre competitors in Q1 in the curtain-raising contest in Rīga behind the wheel of his TRX Motorsport-run Renault Mégane, the talented young Hungarian then got the better of everybody – Kristoffersson included this time – in Q4.

He was a leading contender again in front of family and friends during round two at Nyirád, but despite his scintillating turn-of-speed, in both events, ill-fortune conspired to keep Trepák out of the Final.

Not content with simply being best-of-the-rest, he recognised that – for all of his evident ability – he needed to take a step back in order to take a step forward if he wanted to take the fight to heavy-hitters of the sport like Kristoffersson Motorsport and SET Promotion on a more consistent basis. With that in mind, the 20-year-old Újszilvás native bravely opted to press the pause button on his burgeoning international exploits. Now, he is ready to return. 

“After Nyirád, we felt we needed to step back for a moment, analyse everything and identify where we could make the biggest improvements to the car,” he explained.

“Against the KMS and SET Promotion drivers, it was clear we still had a lot of ground to make up and even reaching the Final was a real challenge, but we have put in plenty of testing and development work over the summer. The car is consequently much faster, more predictable and, most importantly, much more enjoyable to drive.”

That was apparent in the latest FIA Central European Zone event last month at Nyirád, where Trepák came, saw and comprehensively conquered. Having teamed up with countryman Tamás Kárai to tackle the FIA Rallycross World Cup in Jakarta, he is now aiming to put in another eye-catching performance as the sport heads east.

“I honestly can’t put into words how excited I am!” enthused the reigning Hungarian Rallycross Champion. “We know we’ve made a big step forward, and now we finally have the opportunity to put that progress to the test against a world-class field and show what we can really do.

“We’ve been keeping this under wraps until everything was confirmed, and this project has only been possible thanks to the joint effort with Kárai Motorsport and Tamás Kárai – sharing the responsibilities and putting everything together to make it happen. Getting everything to Indonesia has been a challenge, but after a huge amount of hard work, we’ve managed to get all of the logistics sorted. 

“Now, we have two months to prepare, and I’ll be doing everything I can to get both myself and the car into the best shape possible for Jakarta. I’m so happy to be back on the international stage again – this time, more than 13,000km from home – and I’m absolutely counting down the days to the event. It’s going to be an incredible experience and, regardless of the result, a memory that will last a lifetime.”

The beginning of a significant new chapter for the popular dual-surface discipline, the first-ever FIA Rallycross World Cup will take place in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta on 4-6 December, delivered in partnership with 360-degree sports and entertainment ecosystem specialist, SARGA.CO.

Competitors will do battle for glory in the RX1 and RX5 categories, with a distinctive sporting format featuring the introduction of Superpole, two mandatory Joker Laps and eight-car races for the Semi-Finals and Finals.