Seven days in rallycross, December 4
by Tim Whittington |
The final round of the first ever FIA World Rallycross Championship has been the main story, Ford Olsbergs MSE coming out on top of the closely fought World RX Teams title race after an incredibly close battle with VW Marklund Motorsport that was not resolved until the last few laps of the year. While that battle raged, the first World Rallycross Champion, Petter Solberg ended the year with his fifth event win. Reinis Nitiss placed second in the event to pull himself into to the top three places at the end of the year, Toomas Heikkinen holding on to second place in the championship. Making his Supercar debut as a prize for winning the RX Lites Cup, Kevin Eriksson showed immense class and stepped on to the podium in third place.
[tube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnNXJwE9P7E[/tube]
The event was also used to launch a new Argentinian Rallycross Championship which will be developed with categories based on national classes. Ariel Robbiani won the N4 class while Claudio Menzi won the ‘Maxi Rally’ group in his Fiesta. Using the CARX brand, the series is set to unveil a full calendar of date in the next few weeks.
The Swedish rallycross Championship has announced a five-event calendar that will begin and end at events shared with the Swedish Touring Car Championship. A new track at Skovde Airport will open the year with the final again run at Solvalla. Between those two events the series returns to traditional rallycross tracks at Strangnas, Kalix and Arvika.
- May 8-9 STCC Volvo Race Skövde
- June 11 Strängnäs
- July 18 Kalix
- August 1 Arvika
- September 11-12 Solvalla
In Norway it’s awards time and the Sandmo family came away from the NMK’s recent prize giving clutching two prestigious awards. Johny Sandmo, a former driver who now puts his efforts into the careers of his children, was awarded NMK’s gold award while his daughter Lise Marie (20)won the travelling drivers award having twice won Junior championships, this year in the North European Zone series.
France is also about to give awards, and here’s one you can influence. French magazine Echappement is searching for its young driver of the year and among the group of five you can vote for is French Super1600 rallycross champion Cyril Raymond. The prestigious award has in the past been won by the likes of Didier Auriol, Francois Delecour and Sebastiens Loeb and Ogier. To vote for Raymond, click here
Declan Kelly won through in his close battle with Thomas O’Rafferty to win the Irish Rallycross Championship for the first time. Victory in the Superfinal in the last event of the year gave Kelly the title. The two were locked in combat for most of the season, O’Rafferty winning three events in the run up to the final round. Racing closely again in the final event, the duel was resolved in the third heat when O’Rafferty went off and his Fiesta was damaged beyond immediate repair. Tommy Graham won the Supernational class and went on to place second in the Superfinal. Niall Murray beat older brother Eoin to win the 16v Stock Hatch class while Noel O’Brien won the eight-valve category and Jake Dooley was best of the Juniors.
At Blyton in England the final round of the BTRDA Clubmans Rallycross Championship was won by Kieran Curran who also clinched the championship title with the win. The Production class title was win by Jeff Hope-Davies who also won the final round of the year. The final rounds of the Swift Sport Series joined the BTRDA runners at Blyton, Chris Mullen won the ‘senior’ race, beating new champion Tristan Ovenden. The Junior series was won by Charlie Bean who became champion.
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