Serazin takes control in France as Jordan and Galli announce World RX plans

A quiet seven days in terms of events was made nosier by several high profile rallycross announcements in the last week.

Former World Rally Championship star Gigi Galli released his plans to race at the Italian round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship later this month in a brand new Kia Rio Supercar built by his own team, and managed by his former co-driver Giovanni Bernacchini. “I’m delighted to be back in World RX,” said Galli, who competed in a total of 66 WRC events and scored two podiums. “My supporters have been pushing for this to happen and combined with my endless passion for racing it has finally happened. I am especially excited about creating a brand new team and car plus it’s great to also have Giovanni by my side. We will introduce ourselves at the Italian World RX round at Franciacorta next month. Our aim is not to win, it would be foolish to think we could do that straightaway – we simply want to demonstrate how hard we have worked so far.”

The EKS World RX squad announced that British Touring Car star Andrew Jordan will replace Mattias Ekstrom at the Italian event, the car’s regular driver has always planned to miss the Franciacorta round as it clashes with the DTM finale at Hockenheim. The event will be the Brit’s second event of the season following his driver for Team Peugeot-Hansen at Lydden Hill. “Getting the opportunity to drive in such a great team, with these amazing partners on board is something I’m really proud of and hopefully I can do them all justice,” said Jordan. “The power of a Supercar blows my mind. I’ll try to fill Mattias’ seat, but he raised the bar very much this year. I’ve never been to the Italian round before but I’ll do my homework. The aim is to make it through to the final and then, everything can happen.”

Gaetan Serazin (Peugeot 208) won the penultimate round of the French Rallycross Championship at Essay. Second after the heats, Serazin won his semi-final and the final, the first attempt of the race having to be red flagged to remove the stranded car of Herve “Knapick” (Citroen DS3). Serazin’s third win of the year moves him clear of the season long battle at the top of the championship with Christophe Wilt (Citroen DS3). Wilt had a difficult weekend in Essay, he crashed out on day one and was forced to play catch-up for the rest of the weekend, a podium good reward for his efforts but not enough to stop Serazin taking a healthy points lead with one round remaining. Fabien Chanoine (Renault Clio) finished second with Adeline Sangnier (Peugeot 207) fourth and David Olivier (Dacia Logan) fifth.

In Super1600, championship leader Laurent Chartrain (Citroen C2) won again to extend his lead, while his closest rivals in the championship Maximilien Eveno (Citroen C2) Enzo Libner (Renault Twingo) finished second and third, the reverse of their respective positions in the championship. Christophe Saunois (Toyota Corolla) won Division Three ahead of Mathieu Trevian (VW Sirocco) and Guy Moreton (Citroen DS3) while making it four championship leaders winning in the four classes, Steven Lefrancois (Peugeot 206) yet again was victorious in Division Four. Kevin Jacquinet (Peugeot 207) finished second with Sebastien Guillemaud (Peugeot 306).

The final round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship in Argentina has moved venues from San Luis to the Juan Manuel Fangio Circuit in Rosario, pending final approval of the circuit and final agreement between the championship promoter and local organiser. A championship statement said “local elections have meant that the work required to the rallycross track at San Luis has not been completed. A new circuit in Rosario has now been chosen to stage the final round of the world championships, pending final approval of the circuit and final agreement between the championship promoter and local organiser.”

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