Svardal and Daarbak join Euro Supercar influx. Tuominen in S1600 with SET.

14 February    Norwegian Sivert Svardal announces plans to contest the FIA European Rallycross Championship for Supercar. Svardal is the winner of the Norwegian ASN’s ’Talent of the Year’ award and will make the step up from the TouringCar category. The two-litre class champion in the Norwegian Championship in 2018 and 2019, Svardal very briefly had his hands on the FIA TouringCar crown in 2018 before disqualifications for fuel irregularities changed the results. Svardal has an ex-Hedstrom’s Motorsport VW Polo for his graduation to Euro Supercar. “I want to keep evolving as a driver, and I always look for new challenges in the sport. I have raced internationally in the TouringCar class and because this experience was so enjoyable we wanted to keep racing internationally and come back to Euro RX this year. I have to adapt to all the power in the Supercar and hopefully keep up with the speed and level of the competitors. My previous experience from racing Euro RX TouringCar will hopefully help me in many ways. The biggest advantage is that I am mentally ready to race on such big events which will help me handle the pressure,” said Svardal.

19 February   CARX, the Argentine and South American Rallycross Championship, will share dates with the Argentine Top Race touring car series in 2020. The first round of both championships will take place at Concepcion del Uruguay on 15 March with further dates to be confirmed.

22 February    Jack Thorne is set to contest the Motorsport UK British Rallycross 5 Nations Trophy with his Ford Fiesta Supercar. Thorne, who raced in the FIA European Rallycross Championship for Super1600 with a Renault Twingo in 2019, made one Supercar start with his ex-JC Raceteknik Fiesta, racing the newly acquired car at Lydden in August. Title holder Julian Godfery will also return to the championship in 2020, the six-time champion again relying on his trusty Fiesta MkVI.

24 February    OMSE confirms its eight-man driver line up for the 2020 season, reconfirming various RallyX Nordic and RX2 programmes for Fraser McConnell, Jesse Kallio, Linus Ostlund, Martin Enlund and Niklas Aneklev but not yet specifying the activities for Kevin Eriksson, Oliver Eriksson or Sebastian Eriksson.

24 February    SET Promotion will return to the FIA European Rallycross Championship for Super1600 this year when it fields a Renault Twingo for 2019 RX Academy champion Rasmus Tuominen. The 19-year-old Finn gets the 2020 season as his prize for winning the RX Academy. SET Promotion has won the Super1600 championship six times since 2006, taking 40 event wins and 97 podium placings in the process. “Super1600 cars are just such special and cool race cars. It’s so good to be making this step with SET. Coming from front-wheel-drive cars so far in my career, I think Super1600 will be a really good step for me and the driving style will be similar to the Clio RS RX I drove in RX Academy last season. I learned a lot in RX Academy last season about driving in rallycross, handling the pressure when we were fighting for the title in the last round and being as prepared as possible,” said Tuominen.

25 February    The FIA World Rallycross Championship announces new TV deals in Germany, Switzerland and Austria with Sport1 and A1now. “By extending our exclusive rights to the FIA World Rallycross Championship until 2022, we are strengthening our portfolio as the ‘Home of Motorsport’ in the long term,” said Daniel von Busse of Sport1 which will also feature coverage on its Sport1.de digital channel. In a separate agreement, highlights of the FIA World Rallycross Championship will also feature on the Austrian OTT platform A1now. In 2019 the World RX broadcast audience had a global reach of 650 million in 160 territories spanning Asia Pacific, Africa and the Middle East, the Americas and Europe. Its digital audience attracted an average of 530,000 viewers over race weekends – a rise of 30% on 2018.

25 February    The final calendar for the 2020 Finnish rallycross championship – Rallicross SM – is published. The draft calendar published last November included a ’TBC’ date in August that corresponded with a RallyX Nordic event that has been run at Kouvola in each of the last two years. The revised schedule contains a footnote stating “The RallyX Nordic Series will not be held during the Rallicross SM Series 2020.” Kouvola becomes the first round of the series on 30 May with Jalasjarvi, which was to have opened the season, moving to 15 August. Honkajoki, Kaanaa and Hyvinka each maintain the dates listed in the draft schedule.

27 February    Danish teenager Tobias Daarbak will race a Ford Fiesta in the FIA European Rallycross Championship for Supercar in 2020. Daarbak drove in the FIA Euro series in 2018 when he raced a TouringCar Fiesta, he now has the ex-Michael De Keersmaecker Supercar version of the Ford for his step up to the heading category. The car, which De Keersmaecker raced in 2018 will be updated before the first Euro Supercar event at Spa-Francorchamps. Daarbak won the Danish Crosskart championship for seven consecutive years in different classes before stepping up to rallycross. 

27 February    In a release that focuses on reduced entry-fees, RallyX Nordic confirms a four-weekend, seven-round championship calendar that omits a Finnish event. “We have listened to feedback from competitors, and keeping costs down emerged as the number one priority…we are delighted to be able to present drivers and teams with a substantially discounted package for the coming season. We tried extremely hard to make it work with the Finnish organisers but ultimately – and regrettably – we were unable to reach an agreement due to scheduling difficulties during what is a busy summer season. It has always been a very successful and popular event and we really enjoy working with everybody there, so we very much hope to welcome Finland back to the RallyX Nordic calendar in 2021,” said Jan-Erik Steen, CEO of RallyX Nordic promoter, RX Promotion.

27 February   After sitting-out the 2019 season to focus on establishing his own business, Norwegian racer Henrik Krogstad will return to the RX2 series this year when he will race with #YellowSquad. A former winner of the Norwegian ASN’s ‘Car Talent’ award, Krogstad placed third in the 2018 RX2 series, achieving three podium finishes along the way. “I was sick for a long time after the end of the 2018 season – it was three or four months before I felt right again. I decided to take a year away from racing to reassess everything, which really helped me to understand exactly what it is I want from life – and that’s rallycross. The break has left me feeling extremely hungry for success, and heading towards the new season, I feel much better prepared for what’s to come – I know what I’m going into this time,” said Krogstad. The Norwegian completed a test with #YellowSquad last November and will partner Supercar Lites newcomer Dan Skocdopole at #YellowSquad – a collaboration between FIA World Rallycross champions Hansen Motorsport and experienced RX2 outfit Team Faren.