Hansen Bros boss World RX. Latvian wet race. Finland. Italy’s new track

3 September / RX Italia publishes details of a revised event schedule for the remaining events in the Campionato Italiano Rallycross. The new venue at Ittiri was originally scheduled for its debut in September but will now have its first event on 16-17 October. In addition the planned event at Melk in Austria has now been cancelled. Construction work on the new Ittiri circuit, close to Sassari on Sardinia is progressing well. “The track will largely follow the track already known for the opening Super Special of the Rally of Sardinia, a sector has also been added where there will be starts and the joker lap. We also expect a good participation from the local drivers,” said Gianni Marmillata, President of Rally Arena Group which will organise the event.

4 September / The fourth and penultimate round of the Finnish Rallycross Championship takes place at Hyvinkaa where Juha Rytoknen rejoins the Rallicross SM field and takes a commanding win at the wheel of Mikko Ikonen’s Ford Fiesta. Rytkonen was fastest in the third and third qualifiers, won semi-final one and the final as he swept through the event. Jere Kalliokoski, sitting on a hat-trick of event wins from the first three rounds, was the only driver to beat Rytkonen in the event but settled for second in the final and maintained a handsome lead in the series. Henri Haapamaki (Fiesta) continued his good progress and placed third while Rasmus Tuominen (Mitsubishi Lancer E6) again joined the Supercar field and earned a credible fourth place. Jussi-Petteri Leppihalme made his return to racing but retired from the event after Q2, he had been third fastest in Q1…
The Supernational class was won by Joni-Pekka Rajala (Ford Escort Estate) who came on strong in semi-final two and then lifted the final to take a one point lead in the championship. Olli Lahti (Fiesta) placed second in the final and had been fastest in Q1. Christian Jensen (Escort) completed the podium finishers. Ville Mikonen (BMW E46) was fastest in the second and third qualifiers and won the first semi-final but retired from the final with mechanical problems. Rajala was also in action in the Autokross class where he raced his trusty Datsun Finn. Working hard again for the win, the final was the only race Rajala won in the class. Aatu Matikainen (Toyota Starlet) was fastest in Q2 and Q3 placed second and won semi-final one, while semi two winner Jere Tikka (Toyota MR2), who had been fastest in Q1, placed third.

4 September / The Latvian Rallycross Championship ran on the first day of a busy weekend at Musa where autocross classes completed the action on day two. The weather was not kind and on a track better known for autocross that rallycross the racing was tricky. The sight of a boat in the paddock was perhaps not all that funny! Ronalds Baldins beat Edijs Oss and Edvards Egle to take the Supercar class. Baldins won again in Crosskart while Arnis Odins was best in the Super1600 field, Dainis Zemnieks won the Junior 1000 category, and Ivo Gabrans topped Super2000. The BMW RX3000 category was taken by Raivis Geriks and Latvia’s popular Lada RX category was won by Andris Krastins. But judge the conditions for yourself…

5 September / Jose Lameiro (Skoda Fabia) was the winner of the RX Portugal event at Macao, but with only two starters in the Supercar class the focus of attention was on Super1600. Joao Ribeiro (Skoda Fabia) continued his winning ways in the series, this time beating Mario Barbosa (Citroen Saxo) and Joao Novo (Citroen C2) to stand on the top step of the podium. Jorge Gonzaga (LBS RX01) won the Kartcross ctageoyr while victory in the junior kartcross was taken by Susana Durao (Semog Bravo). The Junior Rallycross class was won by Joao Nova (Toyota Starlet) and Adao Pinto (Opel Astra) was best of the National 2WD class and Andre Ferreira (Peugeot 106) was best of the National 1.6 field.

5 September / Timmy Hansen wins the third round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship at Loheac in France. Niclas Gronholm started the weekend by setting fastest time in Q1, Johan Kristoffersson then asserting himself and topping the order in Q2 and Q3 before Hansen set the fastest race time of the weekend to win Q4. Kristoffersson led semi-final one but slipped to third when a driveshaft broke. Hansen took the win ahead of Timo Scheider but with the gearbox also damaged by the shaft failure, EKS JC faced the task of changing the gearbox in the short gap before the final. Kevin Hansen won semi-final two, Krisztian Szabo and Gronholm also progressing. Ultimately Kristoffersson’s team just failed in its attempts to complete its task in time and Kevin Abbring joined the final as first reserve. The Hansen brothers ran first and second from start to finish, Gronholm completing the podium.

Loheac had a full programme with both FIA European championships and the RX2e series on the card. In the RX1 European championship there was a popular win for Rene Munnich, the German driver taking his first FIA event win having been in contention throughout the event and grabbing the lead when Andreas Bakkerud’s Skoda Fabia faltered at the end of the penultimate lap. After older brother JB was eliminated from the event – and the championship – in a Q4 crash in which he suffered a broken arm, Andrea Dubourg rescued family honours with second place ahead of Tamas Karai who completed the podium.

In RX3 there was a scintillating battle between series leader Yury Belevskiy and Volland Racing stablemate Kobe Pauwels. Belevskiy won three qualifiers, Pauwels taking Q3 with the fastest time of the weekend. each won their semi-final to setup the head-to-head for the final in which Pauwels made his move with an early joker lap that eventually saw him leapfrog Belevskiy for the win. Timur Shigabutdinov placed third while Jan Cerny finally made it to the main event and took fifth.

In RX2e France found a new darling as 18-year-old Dorian Deslandes – a late entry in the event – delivered an impeccable performance over the weekend. Fastest in Q1 and Q2 Deslandes was top qualifiers even after Reinis Nitiss and Guillaume De Ridder came forward to be fastest in Q3 and Q4. Victory in the first semi-final and the final followed as Deslandes led home Nittis and De Ridder, the latter maintaining his points lead in the series.

7 September / DA Racing announces that Romain Grosjean will be among its lineup for the 2021-2022 Trophee Andros series. A veteran of 179 F1 Grand Prix and now racing in Indycar, Grosjean has started and won three Andros Trophy events in the past. He will be joined by French F1 commentator Julien Febreau, himself no stranger to ice racing and having this year again made some rallycross starts with DA Racing. “I’ve always loved driving on ice. This is a team that I know well and I am very happy to meet them again for this new adventure on the Andros e-Trophy. I’m going to take advantage of the team’s experience to get to grips with driving the Andros Sport GdL in the best possible way, and then why not try to win a race? But above all, I will enjoy these races in a usually calm period,” said Grosjean.

This weekend  /  The Estonian championship reaches its penultimate round this weekend at Kehala while the Hungarian series moves to Kakucs and the Eurocircuit at Valkenswaard hosts the Dutch and Belgian Championships.

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.

Pics: RX Italia, Rallicross SM, RX Portugal, DA Racing, Rallycross LV, World RX, Red Bull Content Pool