JK closes on third World title. Staniszewski takes CEZ crown. Cancellations as COVID bites again.

15 October    The Irish rallycross Championship anniunces that its third round of the disrupted 2020 season will be cancelled. Scheduled for 25 October, the event is victim of increased restrictions on movements and gatherings in the Irish Republic.

16 October    The Slovakiaring announces that the final round of the CEZ Championship scheduled for 24-25 October will be cancelled because of a government ban on organising mass gatherings. As a result of this the Italian Championship event at Maggiora, also a CEZ qualifier, on 17-18 October immediately takes on greater importance as it now forms the final CEZ round. the Polish Rallycross Championship which was also scheduled to be part of the Slovkiaring event immediately rescedules its fourth round to take place at Slomczyn on the same date

17 October    Timmy Hansen becomes the fourth different driver to win a round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship by taking victory in round sevent at Barcelona. Championship leader Johan Kristoffersson was top qualifier and won semi-final one to start the final from pole with semi two winner Timmy Hansen alongside him on the grid. In the final Hansen combined a better joker lap strategy with a series of blistering laps to take the lead when Kristoffersson took his joker in the last lap. Kevin Hansen placed third to give Team Hansen a ‘Brodium’. 

The FIA European Rallycross Championship for Super1600 was also on the Barcelona bill, Yuri Belevskiy (Audi A1) taking victory in the first round of the year and being joined on the podium by Gergely Marton (Audi A1) and Rasmus Tuominen (Renault Twingo).

17 October    The third round of the iRX World Championship takes place on a virtual Atlanta Motor Speedway rallycross track. Jon Robertson, the championship leader after two rounds, takes his first win in the series to extend his lead. Roberston’s Team Yokohama teammate Yohann Harth placed second with SET Esports’ Tommi Hallman completing the podium finishers. Kristian Sohlberg beat Scott Speed and Chris Atkinson in the All Star final.

17-18 October    Two days of racing at Maggiora in Italy forms the third and fourth rounds of the Italian Rallycross Championship, RX Italia, and also the final rounds of the CEZ Championship (see above). Polish racer Zbignew Staniszewski (ford Fiesta) continued what is becoming an excellent season by winning on Saturday, beating Luciano Cobbe (Kia Rio) and Ivan Carmellino (Fiat Punto). Staniszewski’s victory gives him the CEZ title. On Sunday the win is collected by Cobbe who takes the Italian title.

The Super1600 category attracts a number of visiting racers, Frenchman Valentin Comte (Renault Twingo) beating team boss Damien Meunier (Twingo) to win on Saturday when Jiri Susta placed third with his Skoda Fabia. On Sunday Susta stepped up to take the win and the Italian title with Meunier again second. Meunier’s third car in the event was raced by Hungarian Andrei Vajda who climbed to the top of the CEZ points chart to become Super1600 champion. Roman Castoral (Opel Astra) won the SuperTouring (Supernational) title in Italy and also claimed the 2000cc CEZ title. Austrian Richard Forster (VW Polo) becomes the 1600cc champion in the CEZ with Damian Litwinowicz (Honda Civic) the CEZ champion in the over 2000cc category. There is one round remaining on the calendar for RX Italia, Ittiri in December, but series organisers now expect that to be cancelled. In Kartcross Simone Firenze took an emotional Italian championship title just two weeks after his workshop and Semog Bravo buggy were left buried under mud after a flood that hit northern Italy.

17-18 October    The CARX South Amercian Rallycross Championship returns to action for the first time since March at La Fortaleza de Oreste Berta in Alta Gracia where two days of action form rounds two and three of the series. Augusto D’agostini took Baratec’s VW Polo to win the event ahead of Federico Villagra who switched from his regular Fiesta to race a Toyota Yaris from VRS. Mario Baldo was third in SAAM Racing’s Citroen DS3. Juan Cruz Yacopini (Toyota) won the RC2N final ahead opf Martin Aranzabe (Renault) and Cesar Folledo (Fiat).

In round three on Sunday Hernan Kim (Ford Fiesta) took the win as Villagra (puncture) and D’agostini (radiator) both hit problems that slowed their cars. Baldo improved on his Saturday finish to take second place with Javier Castro (Audi A1) completing the podium finishers. Villagra is the championship leader. The RC2N final was red-flagged at half distance after a crash. The race was restarted and won on the road by Fernando Alvarez Castellano, but with local rules dictating a combined result from both parts of the race, the actual winner was Juan Ignacio Alvarez  (Mitsubishi Lancer E9). Castellano (Fiesta) was second with Yacopini third. Aranzabe leads the Championship. The CX Rallycross class was won on both days by Manuel Torras (Ford Fiesta) who leads the series. 

18 October    The eighth round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship is won by Johan Kristoffersson who moves to within touching distance of a record third title. Kristoffersson is beaten to pole by Andreas Bakkerud but when the Norwegian runs into the back of Krsitoffersson’s VW Polo in the run  to turn one, the race is virtually over. Bakkerud and Robin Larsson are eliminated in the T1 incident and Kristoffersson notches up his fourth win of the year in convincing style. Timmy Hansen places second with Anton Marklund taking third and bringing GCK some cheer in what has been a tough year. 

Yuri Belevskiy doubles-up on his round one win to take a second Super1600 victory, this time joined on the podium by Marat Knyazev and Gergely Marton (all Audi A1) 

19 October    Having run its first ‘public’ laps during the Barcelona-Catalunya World RX event, the RX2e prototype continues its testing programme at nearby Calafat where Johan Kristoffersson is among those to drive the car. “It was my first experience of driving an electric race car. The first time is always fun, and it was definitely exciting. The initial feeling I got was quite impressive, and it would be great to do some more testing and try out some more new things. From everything I’ve seen so far, RX2e promises to be a real step in the right direction and a great springboard to World Championship level,” said Kristoffersson.

This weekend     As far as we can tell at the moment racing this weekend is only the Polish Championship on its hastily rescheduled event at Slomczyn. Meanwhile Britain’s entry level BTRDA Clubmans Championship moves to Knockhill in Scotland. 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.