Vitols and Tohill win in Britain. Russian RX in Kazan. Ekstrom to Dakar for Audi.

29 May / Latvian teenager Roberts Vitols wins the opening round of the Motorsport UK British Rallycross Championship 5 Nations Trophy at Lydden Hill. Making his Supercar debut, Vitols (17) had a rocky start to the day in his LD Motorsports Citroen C4 and non-finished the first qualifier. He was then slowest of the ten starters in Q2, but elevated to ninth after Derek Tohill (Ford Fiesta) was penalised for not taking the Joker Lap, before setting third fastest time in Q3. The eighth qualifier, Vitols then placed third in semi-final two, which was won by Julian Godfrey (Fiesta) with Tristan Ovenden (Citroen DS3) second. Defending champion Mark Donnelly (Citroen DS3) won the other semi but neither he nor Godfrey finished in the final. Vitols completed his Joker early in the final and then took the race lead from Ollie O’Donovan (Fiesta) with Ovenden third for his first Supercar podium.

The championship has ten classes this year and among the winners was Jason Bleasdale (Vauxhall VX220) who inherited the Supernational win after Slawomir Woloch (BMW M3) was handed a five-second penalty for gaining an unfair advantage. The penalty dropped Woloch to third behind Stuart Emery (Peugeot 206). Amid the one-make classes Dave Bellerby took the BMW Mini win, Luke Constantine won his adult debut in the Swift Sport series and David Bell was the winner of the first BMW Mini All4 event.
The event also witnessed the first Electro Rallycross event with a field of five Fiat 500e cars from Polish company Elimen Racing. Dan Welch (son of British rallycross legend John) took the win in a closely contested final in which Tomasz Wielgosz an d Hal Ridge completed the top three.

30 May / The second Extreme E event takes place at Lac Rose in Senegal where Molly Taylor and FIA World Rallycross Champion Johan Kristoffersson add to their round one victory for Rosberg X Racing.

30 May / The second round of the Russian rallycross Championship took place at Kazan. Super1600 is the main category and the event is won by Marat Knyazev ahead of Rais Minnikhanov and Alexander Tikhonov. The ‘national’ category is won by Mikhail Simonov who leads home Egor Sanin and Andrey Petukhov

31 May / The second round of the Motorsport UK British Rallycross Championship 5 Nations Trophy is won by Derek Tohill (Fiesta). Ollie O’Donovan (Fiesta) takes his second runner-up place of the weekend after a battle with Andy Scott (Peugeot 208) who placed third. Fourth place with a turbo problem was still enough for title holder Mark Donnelly (Citroen DS3) to leave Lydden with the championship lead, one point ahead of O’Donovan.

Patrick O’Donovan took his second RX150 win of the weekend, leading home class champion Stephen Jones and Ewan McGuinness. Recovering from engine problems that halted her Lotus Exige in round one, Paige Bellerby bounced back to win the Supernational class ahead of Slawomir Woloch (BMW M3) and Jason Bleasdale (Vauxhall VX220). Terry Moore (Mini) was another double winner over the weekend, taking the Retro class on Saturday and Monday. John Cross (Lancia Stratos replica) did likewise, leading home Barry Stewart’s Porsche 911 each day while Andy Grant (Ford Focus) was best of the Group B and 4WD section for Retro, Steve Harris (Ford RS200) second in both events.

1 June / Audi announces that former FIA World Rallycross Champion Mattias Ekstrom will be part of its driver lineup for the 2022 Dakar Rally in which it will be the first manufacturer to bid for victory with an electric car. “The Dakar will definitely be one of the most exciting adventures of my career. To be able to tackle this exciting project together with the team, with which I celebrated my greatest successes, is fantastic. Although I’ll be turning 43 this year, I feel like a junior compared to [teammates] Carlos Sainz and Stephane Peterhansel. In this sport, you need a lot of experience in all areas. I still have a lot to learn, but I’m really looking forward to it,” said Ekstrom.

This weekend  /  Compared to recent times, you are almost spoiled for choice this weekend. Rallycross France begins at Chateauroux, arguably the best national championship in rallycross, it will also offering a livestream this year. RallyX Nordic moves to Finland and RX Italia returns to Magiorra. If that’s not enough, you can catch up on last week’s British fun on YouTube too.

For our full guide of where to watch rallycross this year see the link below. This is updated regularly but remember to check with event organisers before travelling, even if events are on there may be restrictions on public access.