Dubourg’s fourth Andros crown. Larsson/Ohman for Euro RX. Bennett takes full World RX season. Munnich is TCR Middle East Champ.

2 February JB Dubourg takes his fourth consecutive Andros Trophy championship title at Super Besse. Dubourg does enough in the first of the two events to make sure of the title before guiding his DA Racing Renault Captur to a clear victory in the second event. “After three titles, the pressure was no longer the same at the start of the Trophy, I had even more motivation to continue my success. We did not always aim for outright victory, but we wanted to secure the maximum points over the entire weekend. We have been good, consistent and better than our opponents. The technical team with Marcel Tarres and Pierre Arnaud did an exceptional job, we have not had any reliability problems, it is one of the keys to our success. And we finished the Trophy with a victory, what better?” The Andros Trophy racers move to the Stade de France in Paris this weekend for a non-points showcase event.

3 February After racing his new Kia Rio in an ice event in his home town last month, Gigi Galli confirms that he is undertaking a test programme with the car and wants to return to the FIA World or European Championships. “After I tested this car for the first time I would like to race it because it gives me the motivation to race again, but the problem is that I’m still missing experience in rallycross. I would like to find an expert driver who can drive in the World Championship or even the European Championship so we can show what we can do,” said Galli. The new Rio, and evolution of the car used by Galli in 2015 and raced by “CSUCSU” in 2017, is completely re-engineered, its Lehmann engine and Unic transmission more or less the only carry over from the old car.

4 February Yellow Squad by Hansen is launched by World RX races Timmy and Kevin Hansen. The new team will run within the cross kart category of RallyX Nordic series, initially using Speedcar chassis before switching to a new TN5 XC Cross Car chassis later. The TN5 is an FIA-spec Cross Car from Thierry Neuville’s Life Live company. “We have been eager to launch a campaign like this for quite some time and to finally be able to deliver it is an incredible feeling. The team will focus on the next generation of drivers wanting to succeed in off-road racing. We want to make sure our drivers can focus on what they are meant to do, drive a car as fast as possible. We aim to share our experiences in everything from how to eat correctly on a lazy day at home to evaluating the driving into the smallest of details. We strongly believe what we have done in the past and are doing right now is a good base to work from,” said Kevin Hansen.

4 February British racer Oliver Bennett confirms that his Xite Racing team will put in a full World RX campaign with its unique Mini. Bennett put in a mixed season of World and ARX events with the new car in 2018 achieving notable reliability and increasing form with his new squad which will test 2019 upgrades tomorrow (8 February). “I’m pleased we can commit to a full season … I’m very excited about the year … 2019 is looking great too, especially as a private team with a levelling of competition. The battle between the privateer teams should be intense,” he said.

6 February The design for the new World RX track at Spa-Francorchamps is revealed. The 913 metre lap includes Spa’s iconic Eau Rouge and Raidillon section as well as new unsealed section that feature a banked turn within a stadium-like area that also includes the Joker Lap and start/finish areas. World RX will visit Spa for its third event of the year on 11-12 May.

7 February JC Raceteknik launches its plan for the 2019 FIA European Rallycross Championship for Supercar in which it will field a pair of cars for Rob Larsson and Mats Ohman. The pair will race Audi S1s and will get their first outing in the RallyX Nordic on 17 May before the Euro RX season starts at the SpeedMachine event at Silverstone the following week. “It will be an exciting year for JC Raceteknik with both new Supercars and two strong drivers. We had some setbacks last year, so now the whole team is really pumped for a strong season. Mats has worked with us for several years, so it will be fun to be able to focus on a good result together with him in RallyX Nordic. Robin is completely new to the team, even though he is a well-known face in the paddock. We look forward workings with him and we will definitely fight for top results in both Euro RX and RallyX Nordic,” said team boss Joel Christoffersson.

7 February Rally X Nordic commits to adopting FIA Cross Car. Crosskarts appeared at some RallyX Nordic events in 2018, but the plan for 2019 is for a category to be added to the series as the entry-point category. FIA-spec Cross Cars are the focus for the series but existing Crosskarts will remain eligible for the time being. 

7 February The 2017 RX Academy winner Jesse Kallio signs a two-year contract to race in RX2 with OMSE. The 19-year-old Finn raced in the FIA European Rallycross Championship for Super1600 last year, placing sixth in his first International season and winning round three of the championship in Norway. Kallio, who is also a member of the Finnish ASN’s young driver programme, Flying Finn Academy, sees RX2 as the logical step in his career. “I know that I have the talent to compete at the very top, but at the same time I recognise that I’m not yet ready to go up against the best drivers in the world,” he said.

7 February Rene Munnich wins the TCR Middle East Championship after taking his sixth win from six events at the Dubai Autodrome. Racing a Honda Civic Type R TCR, Munnich also captured the Teams’ Championship. ALL-INK.COM Munnich Motorsport will run Hondas in the WTCR series this year.

Pics DA Racing / GGRX / Yellow Squad / World RX / JC Raceteknik / RX2 / Honda Racing