Kristoffersson and Ekstrom share spoils in first World RX rounds of 2020.

18 August    The Portuguese ASN, FPAK, announces that its round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship will run without spectators. Scheduled for the weekend of 10 and 11 October at Montalegre, will not allow spectators due to the restrictions in place by national and international authorities because of the COVID-19 pandemic. FPAK said: “The organisation, in charge of the Municipality of Montalegre, is already preparing a communication plan, with online transmissions, which intends to take the spectacle of the World Rallycross and the beauty of the Barrosã region to all motoring fans, in Portugal and abroad.”

22 August    The first round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship is won by Johan Kristoffersson. Run behind closed doors at Holjes, the opening World RX event is run on a double-header format with a complete event run each day of the weekend over three qualifiers, semi-finals and final. Kristoffersson, the 2017 and 2018 champion, returns to the sport in great form and takes the win ahead of Mattias Ekstrom, the 2016 World Champion also returning as if he’d never been away. Timmy Hansen is third on the road but later disqualified from the final which elevates Timo Scheider to third – the first World RX podium for ALL-INKL.COM Munnich Motorsport. The event is supported by the FIA European Rallycross Championship for Supercar and by the first ever Projekt E event, the first international rallycross event exclusively for electric cars.
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23 August    In an intense batle Mattias Ekstrom outpaces Johan Kristoffersson to win the second round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship at Holjes in Sweden. At the end of the first ever World RX double-header, the two Swedish former champions go head-to-head but on different strategies; Ekstrom’s first lap joker eventually paying dividends as he leads home Kristoffersson who held out until the last lap to do his joker. Losing track position to Ekstrom, Kristoffersson’s last lap smash and grab in the joker also cost him a five-second penalty as he knocked down two track markers in his bid to cut distance and time. The penalty pushed Kristoffersson down to third place and elevated Kevin Hansen to second, the Team Hansen Peugeot driver ending a strong weekend between his compatriots on the podium

Driving Olsbergs MSE latest spec Ford Fiesta, Oliver Eriksson won on his debut in Euro Supercar. JB Dubourg set the pace in the first qualifier but thereafter Eriksson held sway and was noty beaten. Andrea Dubourg and Peter Hedstrom completed the podium.

The Holjes event also entered the record books as being the scene of the first ever International event exclusively for electric rallycross cars. Projekt E, and joint initiative between IMG and STARD to get electric cars in rallycross, featured three cars for its first event after complications caused by the COVID-19 pandemic prevented the appearance of the fourth car in the series, the new Citroen C3 to be raced by Norwegian Mads Ostberg. Ken Block wins the final of the first eventm Natalie Barratt and Hermann Neubauer completing the order.

For a full playlist of all videos from World RX in Sweden click here.

Obituary    We are sorry to note the death of Ko Kasse. The 1995 FIA European Rallycross Champion in the 1400 Cup, Kasse was a happy-go-lucky character who returned to the sport in recent years to oversee the racing of his daughter Mandy. The 62-year-old had been suffering from cancer for a few years. To his wife Tess, daughter Mandy and the many who called him friend, we offer our best wishes.

This weekend    After two days of great racing in Sweden the FIA World Rallycross Championship regroups in Finland for rounds three and four. The events take place behind closed doors but with free livestreams from the World RX Facebook and YouTube channels. This weekend the British and Italian championships also begin. We are doing the best to keep our calendar of events and where you can watch rallycross in 2020 up to date for you. Postponed and cancelled events remain shown but marked as a record of the carnage wrought on the 2020 schedule by Covid-19.