Solberg, O’Donovan, Hernan, Holler, Bex take national wins

23 June The CEZ series moves to Sedlcany in the Czech Republic. The Supercar field is once again smaller than the CEZ has become used to, and Austrian stalwart Alois Holler collects the victory in his Focus ahead of Lubos Cizek (Audi S2) and Lukas Cerveny (Skoda Fabia).

23 June The first day of the British championship’s double-header weekend at Pembrey uses the new circuit layout in clockwise direction. In a remarkable return after a huge crash in round three of the championship at Croft, Julian Godfrey (Mitsubishi Mirage) is fastest in all three qualifiers. Ollie O’Donovan (Focus) makes a decisive move in the first few seconds of the final, cutting inside Godfrey and Mark Higgins (Peugeot 208) to grab the lead. Higgins and Godfrey clashed  and both sustained punctures. O’Donovan took the win over Steve Hill (Mitsubishi Lancer 10) and Roger Thomas (Focus). Jack Thorne (Renault Twingo) and Tom Constantine won the MSA Supernational and Junior championship rounds respectively.

24 June With the track reversed to run anti-clockwise for round five of the MSA British Rallycross Championship, racing resumes on the second day at Pembrey. This time it is Higgins who dominates qualifying and is fastest in all three races. Again, however, it is O’Donovan who takes the initiative in the final to lead from the start. Higgins is close throughout, but unable to take the lead and finishes 0.525s behind O’Donovan who leaves Pembrey with the series lead. Godfrey places third. The MSA Supernational and Junior championship finals are won by Tristan Ovenden (Renault Clio V6) and Luke Constantine, younger brother of Saturday winner Tom.

24 June RallyX Nordic moves to Norway and Grenland for its third round. Oliver Solberg was unbeaten in the event, taking his Citroen DS3 to his first win of the year and the points lead in the series after erstwhile leader Thomas Bryntesson (Fiesta) went out of the event with suspension failure in the semi-finals. Oliver Eriksson (Fiesta) placed second with Daniel Thoren (VW Polo) fighting of Andreas Carlsson’s Renault Clio to take third place. Guillaume De Ridder completed a hat-trick of Supercar Lites victories after top qualifier Sondre Evjen failed to progress from the semi-finals.

24 June The first round of the 2018 Argentine championship “CARX” took place at Arrecifes near Buenos Aires. Running the championship’s three established categories ahead of the introduction of the new SuperCARX class, the first event was won by Hernan Kim (Fiesta) ahead of Alonso Etchebest (VW Gol) and Federico Villagra (Fiesta). Omar Kovacevich and Sebastian Monserrat win the ‘N4’ and Junior finals respectively. Former tennis star David Nalbandian also takes part in the series opener.

24 June The third round of the Russian Rallycross Championship takes place at Atron. The ‘National’ class is the most well supported category in the event with 31 starters and is won by sometime European Super1600 racer Egor Sanin.

24 June At the Eurocircuit the third round of the Dutch Championship includes the BelNed Cup. In the absence of Supercars the over two-litre Supernational + category is the headline act and is won by Kristof Bex (Volvo S40) who beats Steve Volders’ similar car and the C30 variant of Bert Bosmans.

27 June Ahead of the French Championship’s fifth round at Lavare, Pailler Competition reveals that it has purchased an ex-Sebastien Loeb Peugeot 208 from Peugeot Sport. “We had to move up a gear,” said Jean-Luc Pailler. “This season we are fighting against a dozen cars directly from the World and European Rallycross championships. The performance of our cars in terms of pure speed proved to us that we could always claim the leading roles … but we needed to move upmarket to maintain our goals of victory. We now have the same base as when I first started this team; a car directly from the workshops of Peugeot Sport, and we are guaranteed to be able to run every weekend on the same level of equality as our competitors.” The team has not yet said when it will use the new car nor which of the Pailler brothers, Fabien (below) or Jonathan, will drive it.