McConnell and Kristoffersson win Nordic. DeRidder first in RX2e. Mikkelsen tests RX1e.
by Rallycross World |
29 April / Belgian racer Guillaume De Ridder is the first driver to sign-up for the new FIA RX2e Championship. The 28-year-old who has previously raced in RX2 and World RX sees the new all-electric championship as the platform from which he can return to World RX. “I want to make sure I’m as ready as I can be to try to get back to the top level when the manufacturers hopefully return. If I can gain more experience of cutting-edge electric technology this year to lessen the learning curve, that is a no-brainer to me,” said De Ridder.
29 April / World RX star Anton Marklund will return to one of his old VW Polos this year when he races with Hedstroms Motorsport in the FIA European Rallycross Championship and the upcoming RallyX Nordic event at Holjes. “The plan was to do the World RX events Norway and Sweden, but after some thought, the focus was instead set on trying to go for European Championship victory in Höljes. Anton has a lot of experience and data from the cars,” said Peter Hedstrom who will also race in the event. Dan Oberg will drive a third Hedstroms Motorsport entry. “It feels like coming home again, I put so many test laps in these cars when we developed them. They have a chassis that is very forgiving and easy to drive, it gives the driver confidence, which means that you dare to go full throttle already after half a lap,” said Marklund.
29 April / Nitro rallycross announces Andrew Coley as the first member of its broadcast crew. The statement adds that NRX will be Coley’s “primary rallycross commitment going forward as part of a multi-year agreement”. Coley provided commentary on both 2018 and 2019 Nitro events and has been lead commentator in World RX since the series started in 2014. He also covered the 2013 FIA European Rallycross Championship season. Alongside naming Coley, NRX also listed Vermont Sportscar, Olsbergs MSE, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, Loenbro Motorsports and EKS JC as teams committed to the 2021 Nitro season. The prototype of the new FC1-X electric car that will be used in 2022 is due to test this week.
1 May / Fraser McConnell takes victory in the opening rallyX Nordic event of the year. In the first day of a double-header weekend, McConnell fends off Johan Kristoffersson for the win. Sondre Evjen placed third in his EKS JC Audi. Simon Olofosson collected the Supercar Lites victory after dominating the category in round one. Iask Reiersen took the Crosskart victory while Lukas Andersson won in Cross Car Junior. The Open 2WD class was won by Simon Tiger (BMW E30).
2 May / Andreas Mikkelsen posts a “My Life” video featuring his driving duties during a test of the prototype test car for the 2022 World RX electric RX1 racers at Horn-Fuglau in Austria.
2 May / In the second day of RallyX Nordic competition at Nysum in Denmark, Johan Kristoffersson survives an event of attrition and comes through to take the win and the series points lead in his KMS VW Polo. Only four cars made it to the Supercar final and Kristoffersson did not have much bother in taking the win. Sondre Evjen also went one place better than his Saturday finish to take second place away from Fraser McConnell in the last lap. McConnell was third with Andreas Carlsson (Renault Clio) the only other starter. Tommi Hallman won in Supercar Lites and edged ahead of Simon Olofsson in the points after the round one winner had a troubled day. Sebastian Enholm was best of the Crosskart field and Lukas Andersson won again in Cross Car Junior and Simon Tiger made it two from two to reward his long journey from the far north of Sweden.
4 May / RallyX Nordic announces that “FIA approved” electric cars will be allowed to race directly against internal combustion engined Supercars with immediate effect. The move replicates that made by the British Rallycross Championship which recently announced that electric and ICE cars will race together in 2021.
5 May / Ferratum Team will race in the second RallyX Nordic event of the year at Holjes. The Finnish squad will run its ERX Ford Fiesta (the Projekt E car that acquired last autumn) with Henri Haapamaki as the driver. Haapamaki is a double champion in the Finnish Championship’s ‘Supernational’ class.
5 May / Rallycross France publishes a revised calendar with Chateauroux at the start of June now forming round one and Essay moving to a new date in August.
5 May / Extreme E racer Catie Munnings will race a LifeLive Cross Car in the RallyX Nordic event at Holjes next week. Munnings, European Rally Championship Ladies Trophy winner in 2018, will drive with Team Hansen which is the Nordic dealer for LifeLive cars. She is Timmy Hansen’s teammate in the Andretti United Extreme E squad. World RX racer Niclas Gronholm is also entered for the event in one of the GRX Hyundai RX1 cars.
This weekend / Round two of the Campionato Italiano RX 2021 takes place at the new Castello de Branduzzo circuit. Supercars join the bill for the first time this year with the new RX5 holding a handful of new entries including father and daughter Rosario and and Arianna Corallo (Subaru Impreza and VW Polo N5 respectively).
The RX Italia Facebook page will livestream the event.
The first event of the year in Britain takes place this weekend when the BTRDA Clubmans Championship visits Lydden.
Our guide of where to watch rallycross in 2021 is updated regularly. We hope that everyone has the chance to get out there and see some rallycross this year.