Strong Euro RX in 2020. Calendar updates. Baumanis and Abbring back in World RX.

20 March    The entry lists for the Permanent Competitors in the FIA European Rallycross Championships for Supercar and Super1600 are published. The lists reveal 22 Permanent Competitors in Supercar (the maximum number of starters for each event is 25) and 16 Permanent Competitors in in Super1600 where the maximum number of starters is 30 per event. Neither category has a returning champion present on the entry list, and the Supercar championship in particular appears to be wide open with a large number of experienced racers ranged against a number of new and returning racers. In Super1600 the field is led by multiple title winning teams Volland Racing, which will have five cars and SET Promotion which will return to the series this year.

20 March    The Portuguese round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship is postponed. A statement from IMG, the championship promoter said: “Due to the Portuguese government declaring a state of emergency and the suspension of all sporting events in Portugal in light of global health concerns regarding Covid-19 (coronavirus), this year’s World RX of Portugal on 2-3 May has been postponed. This decision was made after careful consideration and consultation with the FIA, the Portuguese ASN and the local event organizer, as the health and safety of everyone involved remains the top priority. We are studying a viable alternative date for the event in conjunction with the local event organizer. We will provide further updates as soon as we have them.”

20 March    Rallycross France confirms a new date for the postponed first round of the French Rallycross Championship. Originally due to have taken place at Lessay on 18-19 April, the event has been moved to 22-23 August.

20 March    The Sport Club Maggiora officially confirms that the opening RX Italia event of the year will be postponed. “This is a sad moment for us, for the first time in almost 50 years you will not hear the roar of engines on Easter Monday at our Pragiarolo racetrack. It is a painful decision, but absolutely inevitable: even if, as we all hope, the state of emergency should end on 3 April, there are still no organisational and logistical bases to propose such a complex event the following week,” said President of Sport Club Maggiora, Riccardo Fasola. The club hopes to maintain a seven-event schedule for the championship but has not yet been able to confirm a replacement date for the opening round.

20 March    Daniel Thoren adds to the detail of his TiKRX team which will now have three entries in RallyX Nordic this year. Thoren, who completed his first full season in 2019, will race the team’s Supercar VW Polo while the squad will also field Supercar Lites and Kartcross entries. “Personally speaking, I’ve gone from being a fan to a sponsor, and then I became a driver myself – just for fun mainly, but still obviously aiming for good results. During my time in this sport, I have got to know some really good and dedicated people, many of whom I am lucky to still work with now. Johan Welander and Niklas Hagström in particular are absolute cornerstones of this whole TiKRX project – it’s no exaggeration to say that without them, there would be no team,” said Thoren.

24 March    GC Kompetition confirms a new schedule of events for Kevin Abbring. Initially due to contest the FIA European Rallycross Championship for Supercar alongside Philippe Maloigne, Abbring will now drive one of GCK’s Renault Clio RS RXs in selected rounds of the FIA World Rallycross Championship. “It feels fantastic to be racing at the highest level again after successful World RX debut last year. This is obviously where I like to be. Fighting for an entire championship would have been great of course, but this is definitely the long term aim here as well – and competing against the very best in the world this year will be a positive step for sure,” said Abbring who raced with ESmotorsport at some World RX events in 2019. GCK boss Guerlain Chicherit also talks up the future and points to Abbring having a place with his team in 2021: “Putting Kevin into World RX rather than Euro RX was a strategic decision for the team. Kevin has enormous talent and is super committed to the sport, and we’d always planned for him and I to work very closely together this year. Globally, there are a lot of issues at the moment, and having Kevin put his focus and energy into the same number of races but at world-level against some of the world’s best rallycross drivers will prepare him for a successful, full assault come 2021.”

24 March    Organisers of the Dutch Rallycross Championship, the NRV, issues. Short statement to say that events at the Eurocircuit in Valkenswaard are cancelled until 1 June. “In view of the stricter measures taken by the Dutch government, all events will be canceled until 1 June. Specifically, this means that the planned NK Rallycross events on April 18-19 and May 23-34 will not take place.”

24 March    Motorsport UK, the British ASN, extends the suspension of motor sport in the UK until the end of June. Many other ASNs have suspensions of the sport in place with no definite end date.

25 March    Janis Baumanis joins the Permanent Competitors in the FIA World Rallycross Championship as JC Raceteknik doubles its effort and runs a second Audi S1 Supercar alongside that of Robin Larsson. The addition has been made possible by the agreement of all existing World Championship Competitors who voted in favour of accepting a second entry from JC Raceteknik and for the Swedish team’s Individual entry for Larsson to be converted into a team entry. KYB Team JC joins the entry list which now includes six, two-car Teams and two Individuals. “It’s thanks to the approval of all of the other teams in World RX we were allowed to enter both Janis as driver and KYB Team JC as permanent entries, and we are grateful for that. I think Robin and Janis will be a strong duo. With Robin we had a very successful season last year and he comes with good experience in the Audi. Janis is new to us, but he is a fast driver with previous experience of World RX,” said Team Principal Joel Christoffersson. Baumanis moves to racing an Audi after four years in Ford Fiestas: “I’m very excited to change to Audi, it will be a big step that will be quite challenging for me. During the first races there will of course be a bit more focus on the learning process in the new car, but then the goal will be to start from the front of the semi-finals. Of course, the dream is to win. I know it will be difficult, but with fast cars and a good team, there is always the opportunity to make it happen,” said the Latvian racer.

25 March    The Oponeo Polish Rallycross Championship publishes revised dates for events postponed by the Coronavirus. Round one of the championship will remain at Slomczyn but move to a later date of 22-24 May. The CEZ event as Sosnova in the Czech Republic that would have formed round three in the original schedule will now be round two. The event originally planned for Tor-Poznan on 30-31 May moves to 24-26 July.

There is no rallycross action at the moment. You can plot and plan when you might be able to get out and see something with our listing of 2020 events – we’re doing our best to keep this up to date but check with organisers before travelling to events.In the meantime, here are solemn highlights of a couple of events that did run before the Coronavirus lockdown. The first rounds from the Portuguese Rallycross Championship – PTRX and the opening events of the Argentine and South American Rallycross Championship – CARX.