World RX Catalunya. Floods claim the ’ring. Sweden, Norway, Estonia, Batlic, Portugal, France.

22 July / The second and third rounds of the FIA World Rallycross Championship scheduled to take place at the Nurburgring on 31 July and 1 August are postponed as a result of the recent devastating flooding in the Ahrweiler region in which the venue is located. Emergency services are using Nurburgring as a base for rescue activities and hotels in the area are full of those made homeless in the flooding. The event is being rescheduled for 27-28 November, where it will form the final rounds of the Championship. “It is important to remember that there are far more important matters at stake here than rallycross, and we must pay immense tribute to the event organisers, who have worked night and day to help the humanitarian efforts,” said Arne Dirks, Executive Director of World RX rights holder Rallycross Promoter.

24 July / A busy weekend at Kehala in Estonia began with round three of the Est RX series in which Martins Svilis (Renault Clio) brought the recent winning streak of Edijs Oss to an end. Svilis won the Supercar class and was joined on the podium by Seido Nommkula (Peugeot 207) and Mart Tikkerbar (Mitusbishi Lancer) while Oss was fourth in his Skoda Fabia. Siim Sundema (Ford Fiesta) was best of the Touring Car racers, Priit Rebane (Citroen DS3) and Andreas Aruaas (Ford Fiesta) completing the top three. Sten Oja (Speedcar Wonder) took victory in the Crosskart final, Joosep Ralf Nogene second in a similar car and Andre Kiil (Semog Bravo) third.

25 July / Kevin Hansen wins the first round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship, World RX of Catalunya. Hansen qualified second to older brother Timmy and then beat title holder Johan Kristoffersson in semi-final two to join semi-final one winner Timmy on the front row of the grid for the final. A strong start and better first lap gave Kevin the lead and he remained at the head of the field to score his first ‘real’ win (his only previous World RX victory coming in Abu Dhabi 2019 after on-the-road winner Niclas Gronholm was penalised. The older Hansen and Krisftoffersson completed the podium. Krisztian Szabo placed fourth in his GRX-SET Hyundai with Rene Munnich taking a personal best fifth in his Seat Ibiza and Kevin Abbring sixth in the Unkorrupted Renault Megane. To watch more go to Red Bull TV or RX+.

The event also featured the first round for the new FIA RX2e Championship in which Guillaume De Ridder took a clean sweep and maximum 30-points to open the new era in fine style. Behind the Belgian, two of the youngest drivers in the field progressed to make it to the podium. Ole Henry Steinsholt and Patrick O’Donovan (both graduates of Britain’s Junior Rallycross Championship, as is Kevin Hansen) unquestionably benefitted from the misfortune of others but each drove well throughout the weekend and deserved their final positions. Spaniard Pablo Suarez finished fourth while Jesse Kallio and Fraser McConnell were both out after some first lap rough stuff.

Picking up where he left off at the end of the truncated 2020 season, Jury Belevskiy claimed victory in round one of the FIA European Rallycross Championship for RX3. Beaten only once in the weekend, Belevskiy eventually stood on the top step of the podium where he was joined by fellow Audi A1 racers Timur Shigabutdinov and “Jolly”. Kobe Pauwels was fastest in Q3 and a consistent challenger all weekend. Fourth in the final he placed ahead of Marat Knyazev and Damian Litwinowicz, all in Audi a1s.

25 July / The fourth round of the French Rallycross Championship at Kerlabo is won by Fabien Pailler. Driving one of two Peugeot 208s in alongside younger brother Jonathan, former champion Pailler was second to Samuel Peu in the Intermediate Classification. Each then won their semi-final. Eight cars start the finals in Rallycross France but the field was reduced to six at turn one where a clash put Julian Febreau and Jonathan Pailler out of the race. The same incident caused series leader Romauld Delaunay (third at the Intermediate) to spin and he would finish sixth having won all three rounds prior to this one. Peu and Laurent Bouliou (Peugeot 208) chased Pailler home with David Vincent and Emmanuel Anne between them and Delaunay.
Jimmy Terpereau (Citroen C2) managed to complete five laps in the final with a puncture and still take his third victory of the year ahead of Anthony Paillardon and Jeremy Lambec (both Skoda Fabia).
Arthur le Boudouil took his first win in the new Renault Clio one-make Junior Championship. Dylan Dufas and Edgar Maloigne completed the podium on a day when David Bouet failed to make the final and saw le Boudouil draw level in the title points race.
Camille Barbe won the Coupe Feminine while Benoit Morel (Ford Fiesta) and Sebastien le Ferrand (Peugeot 208) were best in Divisions Three and Four respectively.

25 July / The fourth round of RX Portugal takes place in mixed weather at Montalegre. There are just two Supercars present and Jose Lameiro (Skoda Fabia) has the measure of Joaquim Santos (Ford Focus) to take the victory. Super1600 is more closely fought and Joao Ribeiro (Skoda Fabia) recovers from a difficult start on Saturday to win the event. Jorge Machado (Citroen C2) placed second ahead of Joaquim Machado (Peugeot 208). The National 1.6 category is won by Andre Ferreira (Peugeot 106) while the two-wheel drive class is won by Andreia Sousa (Peugeot 306) and Nuno Nunes (Peugeot 106) was best of the Junior field. Crosskart was again the biggest class in the event and Jorge Gonzaga (LBS RX01) won the final and was joined on the podium by Alexandre Borges (Semog Bravo) and Tiago Freitas (Proto HSport).

25 July / A double-header weekend of SM Rallycross at Vasteras was full of action and drama in every class. Klara Andersson grabbed the lead of the 2150cc category by finishing fourth and second over the two days and keeping her head in round six when leading rivals failed to make it to the final. Jens Hogboom (BMW E36) and David Hjertberg (BMW E30) were the respective 2150 winners over the weekend. Per Berglund (Volvo/BMW) won the 2400 class in round five but it was Jim Jansson (Subaru Impreza) who topped the order in round six and who leads the championship. The Junior class was won by Oskar Hellstrom (BMW E30) in round five while round six went to Filip Martinsson (BMW E36). Hellstrom leads the championship from Martinsson. Among the Supercar Lites runners Nils Andersson continues to lead the championship but had to settle for second and fourth places. Linus Ostlund beat Nilsson to win round five with Niklas Aneklev third. In round six Martin Enlund improved on Saturday’s fifth place to take the win. Mattis Jansson and Oskar Andersson joined Enlund on the podium.

25 July / The Norwegian Rallycross Championship moved to Grenland for its second weekend of action. Top of the bill was the one-round, single event Norwegian Championship for Supercars. While most NM Rallycross titles are multi-round, Supercar is contested over a single weekend, and in Grenland it was the youngest driver in the field, 21-year-old Sivert Svardal (VW Polo) who dominated the event to take the national title. Beaten only in the third heat where David Nordgaard (Ford Fiesta) was fastest, Svardal won the final from Thomas Eek Murstad (Ford Focus) and Tobias G Andersen (Volvo C30). Svein Holten placed seventh in his all-electric Ford Fiesta ERX.
Espen Isaksaetre (Peugeot 208) beat Martin Kjaer (Ford Fiesta) and Marius Solberg Hansen (Citroen DS3) to win the Super1600 final. The 2000cc class was won by Asmund Holten (Ford Fiesta), Simen Engsvik (VW) was best of the 2400 runners and Fredrik Agedal (BMW M3) won the up to 3000cc category, beating round one winner Jonas Dalseth Jacobsen (VW Polo). Jens Hvaal (Honda) was best of the Junior field.

25 July / The second round of the NEZ Baltic RX series took place at Kehala in Estonia. Janis Vegeris beat Maiko Tamm and Mart Tikkerbar to win the Supercar final. The Super1600 final was won by Marko Muru who beat Janno Ligur and Arvo Kask. In the Super2000 class Janis Ikeris took the win ahead of Deividas Vareika and Valdas Mikuzis. Rauno Rappu was the only finisher in the TouringCar class. Joosep Ralf Nogene stepped up to best of the Crosskart field, Andre Kiil second and Reinis Nitiss rounding out the podium in third place.

Bert van Rooy. We are sorry to record the death last weekend of Dutch rallycross driver and long time support of the NRV and the Eurocircuit at Valkenswaard, Bert van Rooy (77).

This weekend  /  Perhaps the biggest event of the weekend is in Italy where CEZ runners will join national championship racers at Casteletto. Of note and importance is the first event on the new track at Poznan in Poland.

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.