Eurocircuit saved. Rallycross Russia. Riga gets World RX double-head.

15 July  /  Valkenswaard City Council approves a plan that allows the continued use of the Eurocircuit. The Dutch venue has been under threat for some time and the council had five options in front of it last week. In choosing ‘scenario two’ of these, the council has allowed the organising club, NRV, and other associations to continue their legal use of the venue.  The NRV had been in favour of ‘scenario five’ which would have permitted wider recreational and educational use of the circuit, but the council moved away from that for fear it would face legal challenges and result in short-term uncertainty. “It is a pity that the majority of the Council did not want or did not dare to give the possibilities of scenario five a chance, as this scenario fits perfectly with the future vision of NRV Eurocircuit. But at the same time we are happy with the decision, which offers our circuit and our association and the other associations on the Eurocircuit a future. Now we can really start making plans again,” said NRV chairman Walter van de Ven. The approval for continued use will form the basis of a new zoning plan for area.

18 July  /  The fifth round of the Russian Rallycross Championship took place in Ryazan. The second consecutive weekend of action for RallycrossRus in Ryazan, the event was won by Evgeniy Zhivotov (Mitsubishi Lancer) who was joined on the podium by Kachalov Yan and Madyarov Aydar.  In Super1600 Dmitry Bragin this time had the measure of Maxim Simonov and Alexander Tikhonov to collect the win while in the national class Egor Sanin returned to the top step of the podium. The Junior series was won by Pavel Lebedev who finished ahead of Danil Shakirov and Nikolay Kalinin while Mikhail Putyanin was best of the D2N field.

19 July  /  The FIA World Rallycross Championship announces that its event in Riga later this year will become a double header. The change increases the championship from eight to nine events and made to “protect the calendar”. The event in the Latvian capital now becomes rounds six and seven of the championship and will be very similar in content to the 2020 running in Latvia which was one of four double-header weekends in World RX. “This is fantastic news for rallycross fans. For two days, spectators at our race weekend in Latvia will have the opportunity to follow twice as many races and twice as many intriguing semi-finals and finals. The 2021 World Championship title will be won in a car running an internal combustion engine, and spectators have been given a unique opportunity to enjoy these cars for the final time before World RX moves forward and switches to electric vehicles in 2022,” said event promoter Raimonds Strokss.

Gordon Rogers – today we learned of the death of Gordon Rogers. A true gentleman whose mellow nature belied a competitive and highly skilled racer, Rogers enjoyed two competitive and successful stints in rallycross and was in every sense a true star in the 1970s and then again three decades later in his return to racing. We offer our best wishes to his family and many friends.

This weekend  /  Welcome to the new world. Nine months after the 2020 FIA World Rallycross Championship came to a premature end in Barcelona, World RX is back at the Catalan venue, under new management and with an all-electric FIA support series. Every moment of on-track action and more is promised from the new RX+ service. See what happened in previous years in Barcelona here:

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.