Duval victorious in French Championship at Faleyras

Former Rally Australia winner Francois Duval won the fourth round of the French Rallycross Championship at Faleyras, driving a Pailler Competition Peugeot 208. He won three of the four qualifying heats, his semi-final and the final. Christophe Wilt (Citroen DS3) challenged Duval in the first semi-final but finished second, a performance he repeated in the final. 2015 European Championship competitor Jean-Baptiste Dubourg (Citroen C4) raced at the event and completed the podium, while Albatec Racing ran one of its Peugeot 208s for Canel+ Formula One commentator Julien Febreau, who finished the final fourth. Wilt now leads the championship over Fabien Chanoine (Renualt Clio) and Gaetan Serazin (Peugeot 208), who had led the series heading into the event but rolled his Peugeot heavily in the last heat race. Jimmy Terpereau (Citroen C2) won the Super1600 final ahead of Andrea Dubourg (Renault Clio) and leads the championship ahead of Laurent Chartrain (Citroen C2). Tom Daunat again won in the Twingo R1 Cup, while it was a similar story in Divisions three and four, Christophe Saunois (Toyota Corolla) and Stephen Lefrancois (Peugeot 206) both claiming another win to extend their respective championship leads.

At the Eurocircuit in Holland, the third round of the Dutch rallycross championship was again without any Supercar competitors. Kristof Bex (Volvo S40) dominated the heat stages in SuperNational + but it was Steve Volders (Ford Escort)) won the final. In SuperNational -, Martin Vanhove (BMW 1M) claimed victory ahead of Bart Coninx (Seat Ibiza) and Kris Bammens (Peugeot 206). Peter Van de Wege (Toyota Yaris) won in Super1600 ahead of Willem Veltman (Citroen C2) and Dennis Van Rijn (Skoda Fabia). Richard Huisman won the RST Junior Cup.

Not content with running Peugeot 208s at every possible rallycross event this season, Albatec Racing will also be present at the Goodwood Festival of Speed next week, where British Euro RX driver James Grint will drive up the famous hill climb. Andy Scott will miss the festival as it clashes with the British Championship event at Mondello Park on the same weekend. “I’m really excited to be part of Goodwood Festival of Speed this year. I’ve been going to the show since I was about six years old and I have always dreamt that I would be one of the racing drivers screaming up the famous Goodwood hillclimb, now my dream is becoming a reality,” said Grint. Fellow Brit Liam Doran will also run at Goodwood in his Citroen DS3, accompanied by his multiple British rallycross championship winning father Pat.

Albatec also announced this week that it will run a car for Finnish rally driver Kristian Sohlberg at national events in France and Britain next month in preparation for the Turkish round of the World Rallycross Championship in October. “I’m very happy to have finally organised a contract with Albatec Racing. I have been trying to get a chance in rallycross for some time and finally it worked. It is something totally new for me, but I know the team is very professional and the Peugeot 208 RX Supercar is very competitive,” said Sohlberg.

Current British Rally Champion Daniel McKenna will make his rallycross debut at Mondello Park in just over a week, where he will race an RX150 buggy. RTE TV presenter John Kenny will also race at the event in the RX150 division. “I’m really looking forward to Mondello. There are a host of young drivers in Ireland that could have been chosen, so I’m delighted to get the chance. I’ve been watching YouTube clips of the buggies and they look good fun. I’ve experience in rear-wheel drive Mk2 Escorts, so I should be able to adapt. Hopefully I can get up to speed quite quickly and do as well as I can,” said Mckenna.

Ahead of the fifth round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship this weekend at the Estering in Germany, the entry list for the six round at Holjes, Sweden has been announced. 35 Supercars will compete at the Varmland circuit, including Niclas Gronholm, son of double World Rally Champion Marcus, former Holjes winner Stig-Olov Walfridson and 1999 European Rallycross Champion Per Eklund, who will race a Saab 93 alongside Daniel Holten in the team’s new Volkswagen Beetle. Alexander Hvaal will return to Supercar in the Citroen DS3 he raced for Hansen Motorsport in 2013.

The annual Race of Champions event has moved to London for the 2015 edition, and will be run at the stadium that hosted the Olympic Games in 2012. World Rallycross Champion Petter Solberg competed at the event last season, held in Barbados, and won the Nations Cup with seven-time Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen. Rallycross Supercars were used in the event in 2014, Marklund Motorsport providing a part of Volkswagen Polos for the event, while World RX event winner Mattias Ekstrom is a former winner of the ROC. The British Championship RX150s have also been used at ROC, running at events in China and Germany in the past.

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