Nurburgring revealed. Linnemann for Euro RX. Raymond and De Ridder on the market.

28 February    Belgian kart racer Kobe Pauwels will race in RallyX Nordic’s Cross Car category this year. The 15-year-old drove in some Cross Car events in 2019 and will complete the seven event, four weekend RallyX Nordic season alongside his karting commitments. “I’m not expecting an easy year ahead, so I’d just like to gain lots of experience and we’ll take things race-by-race and see how it develops. I don’t think we can expect to win the championship in our first year, but let’s wait and see how things go in the opening round at Holjes,” said Pauwels. The young Belgian will race a LifeLive chassis under the Hansen Motorsport banner, his efforts backed by Red Bull.  “LifeLive Nordic perfectly complements our existing rallycross programmes and commitments. We started the cooperation more than a year ago, beginning with a lot of testing and development, and I actually raced the car myself at Holjes last July. Kobe is very young, but he clearly has potential. What he needs is experience and a positive learning environment in which to gain that experience, and that is what we will provide,” said Kenneth Hansen.  /// 2019 series runner up Jimmie Osterberg has confirmed he will return to the CrossCar/Crosskart category this year when he will again run his own vehicle as a private entry.

2 March    Volland Racing confirms a five-car line up of Audi A1s for the 2020 FIA European Rallycross Championship for Super1600. Volland Racing won the title with Rokas Baciuska in 2018 and repeated the success with Aydar Nuriev last year, both driving Audi A1s and following Krisztian Szabo who won the title with a Volland Skoda Fabia in 2016 and 2017. This year’s driver line-up comprises Russians Artur Egorov, Timur Shigaboutdinov and Marat Knyazev (the latter new to the team in 2020) join Swiss domiciled Yury Belevskiy and Hungarian Gergely Marton. Team boss Rolf Volland has recently spent time with his drivers in Finland. “We put them through different programmes and tested different driving styles depending on the conditions. It’s a big part of their learning and development and it ensures that they are well prepared for the new season. We will have some more testing before the season starts but I am happy where we are. One of the reasons for our success in recent years is the programme we put in place to have the guys ready for the new season. They are not under so much pressure when they test, we are not in race conditions, we do a lot of data logging so we can try out new things,” said Volland.

2 March    Cyril Raymond comes clean on his 2020 ambitions. Like Guillaume De Ridder (below), Raymond is looking for new opportunities this year after spending the 2019 season with GCK. “We are currently working on either Euro RX or Projekt E. Euro RX promises a very high level of competition while Projekt E is quite simply an opportunity to step into the future of rallycross. As we all know, we are about to see a significant change in the sport and I believe we should do everything to be ready for it. This is why I am working as hard as possible to achieve those goals … Projekt E is the best way to discover what the future will be,” said Raymond.

4 March    After sitting out the 2019 season Andy Scott will return to the Motorsport UK British Rallycross Championship this year. Scott will drive one of his Albatec Racing Peugeot 208s, the team having last taken part in the series in 2018 when it claimed the title with Mark Higgins driving. Albatec Racing will continue to be supported by the National Centre for Motorsport Engineering based at the University of Bolton which was also involved in the 2018 campaign. “It’s wonderful to get the opportunity to continue with the team at Albatec Racing this year, as we work towards regaining the championship we won in 2018. It’s great for our students, many of whom were keen to continue with rallycross from last year. Now, with Andy at the wheel we can give a core group of first and second-year students the chance to put what they’ve learnt in the classroom into practice at the circuits,” said the NCME’s Dr Mark Busfield. The championship begins at Lydden Hill on Easter weekend.

4 March    Nurburgring reveals it’s World RX track during the pre-season media launch for the 2020 season. Constructed in the Mullenbachsleife and with similarities to the rallycross track used for the FIA Inter-Nations Cup events in 1992 and 1993, the 1029 metre track will run anti-clockwise and features elevation changes of more than 15 metres and gradients of up to 12%. “We are pleased to be bringing the FIA World Rallycross Championship to the Nurburgring.  We have all seen how exciting World RX is and we can’t wait to stage this adrenaline-filled motorsport action on our purpose-built rallycross track. Our fans are motorsport enthusiasts and we know that they will be excited to see world class rallycross at Nurburgring. The track layout is deisgned as a stadium so the fans will not miss one second of all of the non-stop action,” said Mirco Markfort, the CEO of Nurburgring.

4 March    Danish racer Ulrik Linnemann announces plans to contest the FIA European Rallycross Championship for Supercars. A long-time front runner in Suepr1600, Linnemann raced in Supercar with a VW Polo in 2018 and then raced a Honda Civic in RallyX Nordic in 2019 but has now acquired a new Ford Fiesta Supercar and will return to his own team for the 2020 season. “The car is brand new, I have high hopes but so far it has only been driven a few kilometres, so I’m really looking forward to the pre-season tests. I really look forward to Spa, which looked awesome last year. That track will be new for most of us [in Euro Supercar]. I have always had great results in Norway, Sweden and France, so it looks like it can be a great season,” he said.

5 March    Guillaume De Ridder is to drive in the forthcoming RallyX on Ice event within the SM-Veckan contest at Lulea in the north of Sweden. De Ridder will drive an OMSE Supercar Lites in the event. “I’ve wanted to do this event for three years! Competing in RallyX on Ice will also allow me to get some laps under my belt and be as sharp as I can for the start of the main summer season, which is always beneficial. Although I’m not yet at a stage where I can confirm my plans for 2020, I still need to ensure I am as well-prepared as possible for whatever the coming months may hold. RallyX on Ice ties in perfectly with this approach, so let’s get out there and have some fun in the snow!” said the Belgian who raced in World RX for GCK in 2019. /// Niklas Hagstrom will race in the event driving the TiKRX car which he has built. The former Group N racer has not raced for several years during which he has worked as a mechanic for several teams.