Delaunay first on French return. JK and Gronholm in Nordic. World RX drivers named.

3 June / Nitro RX announces that seven teams have committed to the ‘worldwide’ 2022 season “…including, Vermont SportsCar, GRX, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, Olsberg MSE, Xite Racing, Good Times Racing and one additional team to be announced at a later date.” The series will use internal combustion engined cars this year and shifts to electric with a new car in 2022. Series boss Joe Car said: “We are seeing a lot of excitement about the FC1-X [the new electric car developed by Olsbergs MSE and QEV]. With nine sales already secured and more purchase orders expected soon, we are very confident that we will sell out the entire 16-car field ahead of our inaugural electric season in 2022.”

4 June / Latvian racer Edijs Oss reveals the new Skoda Supercar in which he will tackle the Latvian, Baltic and Estonian rallycross championships in 2021.

5 June  /  Johan Kristoffersson won the fifth round of the RallyX Nordic series at the end of a topsy-turvy day in which he fought back from mechanical problems in Q1 while a puncture on Niclas Gronholm’s leading Hyundai ultimately gave him the lead in the final. Finnish driver Juha Rytkonen (Ford Fiesta) placed second in the final having passed Sondre Evjen (Audi) for third place and then being gifted second when Jere Kalliokoski (Fiesta)  also suffered a puncture. Tommi Hallman collected his third Supercar Lites win of the year, leading home Nils Andersson who made tactical use of the joker lap to pass Jonne Ollikainen for second place. Jimmie Osterberg won the Crosskart class and the Junior section was topped by Elias Kalliokoski. Simon Tiger (BMW E30) continued his winning ways in the Open 2WD class. Watch the video here.

5 June  /  Round three of the Italian Rallycross Championship took place at Maggiora which is run in the reverse direction for the first day of this double-header weekend. RX5 and Super1600 were combined for this event and the winner was Matteo Bonini (Hyundai i20) whose RX5 car was chased home by best of the Super1600 runners, Silvano Ruga (Renaultr Clio). Roman Castoral (Opel Astra) was again the winner in the SuperTouringCar (STC) category but was given a run for his money by Mattia Nicolini (Citroen AX). Marco Berniga (Planet Kartcross) was best of the Kartcross field, adding to his victory in round two.

6 June  /  After the disappointment of losing Saturday’s round five through a puncture, Niclas Gronholm won the sixth round of the RallyX Nordic season. Leading the final, Gronholm held off the challenge of Johan Kristoffersson to take his third win of the series. Juha Rytkonen placed third at the end of a good weekend with Miko Ikonen’s Fiesta. Tommi Hallman bagged another Supercar Lites victory, racing well throughout the event and taking his fourth event victory on a day when his leading rival stumbled. Jonne Ollikainen and Martin Enlund joined Hallman on the podium. The Crosskart category had a restart and crashes that left Tomi Rakkolainen to take victory over a much reduced field. Patrik Hallberg managed to finish second despite suspension damage and is equal on points with Isak Reiersen and Jimmie Osterberg entering the final round. Alex Gustafsson had a more straightforward path to the Junior victory ahead of Lukas Andersson. The Open 2WD final was settled in the Stewards’ room where Simon Tiger and Tuomos Venalainen were both disqualified  following a crash just after the start. That handed the win to Marcus Norman (Mazda RX8). Watch the video here.

6 June  /  With the Maggiora circuit rearranged into it’s usual layout overnight, round four of RX Italia completes a double-header for the series, and has spectators present at the venue. Matteo Bonini (Hyundai i20) continues where he left off the previous day and took another victory, this time racing closely with teammate Davide Riccio. Super1600 was combined with RX5 again, this time best of the smaller cars was Marco Valazza (Ford Fiesta) who finishes third overall.  The STC section was dominated by Roman Castoral (Opel Astra) who was fastest in all qualifiers and won the final ahead of Mateo Valazza (Citroen AX). There was a new name on the podium in third place with German racer Andreas Huhn completing the top three in his Fiat Grande Punto. There was a new winner in Kartcross where Ricardo Canzian (Speedcar Xtreme) narrowly beat Simone Firenze (Semog Bravo).

June 6  /  The French Rallycross Champoionship finally returned to action at Chateauroux and celebrated a new winner as Romaul Delaunay scooped the honours at the wheel of DA Racing’s Citroen DS3. Delaunay got ahead after Samuel Peu (Peugeot 208) made a poor start in the final, the two then closely matched until the chequer. Laurent Bouliou (208) fought back from a mixed run in the qualifiers to climb to third place in the final.
There was a first-time winner in Super1600 too where Anthony Paillardon (Skoda Fabia) was in control of the competitive class from the start. Jimmy Terpereau (Citroen C2) and Dylan Dufas (Renault Twingo) completed the podium.

The new Junior series (using controlled specification Renault Clios) was won by circuit racer David Bouet who won all three heats, the semi-final and final. Florian Meureau placed second with Baptiste Menez completing the podium.
The Coupe Feminine was won by Camille Barbe with Marine Danveau and Amelie Moliexe completing the podium while pole starter Alizee Pottier slipped to sixth after jumping the start.
Benoit Morel (Ford Fiesta) topped the Division Three field and Anthony Mauduit (Renault Clio) claimed his first event win in Division Four.

7 June  /  The FIA World Rallycross Championship announces that Kevin Hansen will return to the series in 2021 at the wheel of one of the family team’s Peugeot 208 Supercars.  Still just 23-years-old and with four World RX seasons under his belt, the younger of the Hansen brothers  says that this is his ‘time to shine’. “Our car development has moved towards a direction I feel more comfortable with, and the Peugeot did fit me much better last season than in 2019. I believe since then we’ve progressed even more in that direction, and I can’t wait to extract all of it on-track. To close World RX’s combustion chapter with the Hansen name on top would be a beautiful story, given the team’s rich history and the upcoming shift to full electric rallycross. It’s my time to shine!” he said.

8 June  /  Kevin Abbring will contest a full World RX season at the wheel of a Renault Megane run by Unkorrupted. The Dutchman has made several World RX appearances over the last two years, leading the final in Norway in 2019, but has not previously committed to a full season. “I’ve been working on some incredible projects, and I’m really excited about the future of motor sport. To get the chance to contest an entire championship at world level in parallel this season is something I’ve been working on for such a long time now. Thanks to the latest projects and test activities I have been involved in, I feel faster than I’ve ever been. I’ve worked with every team member closely before and I’m starting to understand the Megane better and better. I can’t wait to push for victories together!” said Abbring.

9 June / Niclas Gronholm and Krisztian Szabo will line up as teammates at GRX SET World RX Team for the 2021 FIA World Rallycross Championship. Hungarian driver Szabo (29) raced with GRX in four rounds of World RX last year. He returns to the team for a full season in 2021 and impressed with his pace in the RallyX Nordic event at Holjes. He has twice been FIA European Rallycross Champion in the Super1600 category. “My hopes for this season are quite simple, to fight for the championship. Last year was difficult but I think we learned a lot and we are going in the right direction at the moment. I expect the competition in World RX to be similar to the 2019 and 2020 seasons, nothing will be won easily. We will need to be ready to fight and put in the work needed at every round to have a chance to win. The races I’m most looking forward to are Sweden and Portugal, the tracks there are so nice, but also Nurburgring because it’s new for everybody and nobody knows what to expect, which always makes things interesting,” said Gronholm.

9 June / the Finnish ASN announces a change in the SM Rallicross calendar. The event planned for Oulu in August will now not take place and Kaana will join the series on 18 September to keep the number of events at five and form the final round.

This weekend  /  There’s lots on this weekend, see the link below for championships calendars. The delayed start of the Estonian Championship will also planned to welcome fans. The Swedish National series, Rallycross SM goes north for what is sure to be a hotly contested event at Pitea.

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.