Snow business like rallycross

The main activity of the week was the delayed, but very successful start of the RallyX on Ice initiative in Sweden. Run on a short version of the rallycross track at Holjes, on a circuit of snow and ice, and lined by snow banks, the event featured a field of RX Lites cars with a supporting class of historics. The event was won by Sebastian Eriksson, “It is an awesome feeling to be the first ever winner of a rallycross on ice event,” said Eriksson. Richard Goransson and Joni Wiman completed the podium with Folkrace star Tobias Svard making a sensational rallycross debut and placing fourth, ahead of former WRC star Thomas Radstrom. Janis Baumanis completed the finalists in his first ice event.

[tube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cT41aDwUFJQ[/tube]

The RallyX on Ice field moves on to Karlstad this week where it will be in action alongside the WRC Rally Sweden and with Marcus Gronholm and World RX event winner Reinis Nitiss joining the fun.

Nitiss moves on to the event in Sweden having completed his first rally with a a good performance in Rally Liepaja, the Latvian round of the European Rally Championship in which he drove an R2 Fiesta and placed eighth in ‘ERC3’.

The Solberg family will also be on duty during Rally Sweden, Petter and wife Pernilla bidding for a third straight victory in the rally’s Historic event in their Escort MkII. If successful the win would come a decade after Solberg’s Swedish Rally win for Subaru. Solberg has also been on TV again recently, this time joined by son Oliver on Skavlan where the pair demonstrated their driver/co-driver double act in unique fashion.

In America Subaru Rally Team USA announced that it would retain its GRC driver lineup of Sverre Isachsen and Bucky Lasek in 2015. Action sports icon Travis Pastrana will drive in selected events, his programme to be announced later. “It was an easy decision for us to keep them on the team,” said Rob Weir, Subaru Motorsports Marketing Manager. “Bucky and Sverre put Subaru on the podium five times last season and continue to play a key role in the development of our rallycross program. Both drivers share tremendous pride for the Subaru brand and the success of Subaru Rally Team USA.”

The week after the 2015 championship got under way, the Irish Rallyross Championship reconvened to present awards for its 2014 season

Of course all this ice and snow business made us think of origins of rallycross and the days when a bit of weather could not stop the show, and there’s this precious (if not very high quality) piece of vintage footage to prove the point…

[tube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrRJLa8CO8c&feature=youtu.be[/tube]

[portfolio_slideshow]