Timerzyanov’s Spa day. Nuriev and Eriksson double up in Super1600 & RX2.

11 May Changes in the lineup for the third round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship confirmed. GRX Taneco is without Niclas Gronholm who has suffered appendicitis. A third Hyundai i20 was scheduled to run for Joni Wiman in the event and Wiman is nominated as a points scoring driver for the World Championship team. ESmotorsport Labas Gas parts ways with FIA European Super1600 champion Rokas Baciuska and recruits Francois Duval to drive its Skoda Fabia at Spa.

12 May Six-and-a-half-years and 74 events since he last stood on the top step of the podium in an FIA event, Timur Timerzyanov brings the house down at Spa-Francorchamps by taking his first FIA World Rallycross Championship victory. The Russian claims a popular win after snatching the lead in the first corner of the final and then keep his composure to lead until the chequer. The victory is also the first for GRX Taneco, Hyundai and former WRC title holder Marcus Gronholm as a team owner. Andreas Bakkerud had started from pole with Timerzyanov’s team-mate Joni Wiman alongside, but the duel between the pair in the first corner gave Timerzyanov his chance. Timmy Hansen, Janis Baumanis and Liam Doran completed the finalists on a day when championship leader Kevin Hansen did not make it past the semi-finals. 

Aydar Nuriev repeats his round one win in Super1600, but this time Volland Racing’s grip on the category is looser as Egor Sanin (Renault Twingo) takes second place with Josef Susta (Skoda Fabia) in third place. 

In RX2 Oliver Eriksson also adds a second event win to his tally for the year. This time the Swede is chased him by Jesse Kallio who goes one better than his Barcelona result. Ben-Philip Gundersen recovers from his round one nightmare to place third in Belgium.

12 May The first Spa World RX of Benelux also contains a support event for the new FIA Cross Car category. For the first time a group of five Cross Cars takes to the track in race action. Junior drivers feature and the final is won by karting star Kobe Pauwels.

13 May Titans RX reveals that its first event will now take place at Essay. The venue switch comes after Dreux, the original location withdrew from the series 

15 May SpeedMachine is to have ROKiT Williams Racing FW42 and iconic FW14 on display among the features of the wide event surrounding the British round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship. Prodrive will have ten cars from its collection on display at the event, including a legendary McRae/Burns Subaru.

16 May On the eve of its first event of 2019 the RX Academy reveals an entry list of nine drivers. The series  takes place over six events and offers a drive in the European-based events of the 2020 RX2 series for the winner. “We head to Holjes for the first round of the RX Academy season after two years that have given a clear vindication of the concept, with both Jesse Kallio and Sami-Matti Trogen driving for different teams in RX2 and fighting for the top places. They have taken the next step from RX Academy and are proving how much they learnt in their time here,” said Academy boss Jussi Pinomaki.

17 May British Rallycross Champions Mark Higgins and Albatec Racing will take part in World RX of Great Britain at Silverstone. “I’m really excited to be getting back behind the wheel of the Albatec Peugeot 208 and taking on the World RX regulars at Silverstone. Last year’s event was a bit of an eye-opener, it was only my fourth rallycross outing, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and we achieved significant results against the factory teams and drivers,” said Higgins. Albatec Racing formed an alliance with the University of Bolton’s National Centre for Motorsport Engineering in 2018 and that continues this year when students from the course will again be among the volunteers on the scrutineering team at the World RX event.