Dubourg gets sixth Andros crown. New management for IRX. JK leads VW.

A quick catch-up to start the year after a few quiet weeks.

5 January / RX Italia publishes its schedule for the forthcoming season and reveals a structure of eight categories within the championship that includes three rounds at its home in Maggiora.

13 January / Volkswagen Dealerteam Bauhaus announces that FIA World Rallycross Champion Johan Kristoffersson will lead its driver line-up in 2022. The team will be run by KMS which will field three of the new all-electric cars in World RX this year. The cars and teammates to four-time World Champion Kristoffersson will be revealed later.

28 January / The RX150 series that is part of the British Rallycross Championship package is running a ‘taster’ day on 22 February at which prospective competitors can try the open-wheel buggies.

28 January / The Irish Rallycross Championship announces that Mondello Park circuit has agreed terms with Motorsport Ireland and that Mondello will promote and manage the championship for the next five years with immediate effect. “Rallycross has enjoyed a renaissance in recent years with World RX re-invigorating a sport made specifically for TV spectators. Irish rallycross has struggled over the last few years, but we hope that our investment will allow competitors, spectators and officials to once again to show the reason why rallycross is one of the most intense and high octane spectacles in motorsport,” said Mondello boss Roddy Greene. The 2022 IRX series starts on 13 February.

30 January / JB Dubourg clinches his sixth Trophee Andros title in a tense final weekend of racing in the French ice-racing series. After post-Christmas events at Isola2000 and Lans en Vercors – where Dubourg won twice to recover ground lost in the previous round, Dubourg entered the final weekend of the season three points behind Aureliene Panis. In the final at Super Besse Dubourg placed second, both he and Yann Ehrlacher moving ahead of Panis. Finishing the season equal on points with Ehrlacher, Dubourg won the title having won more events than Ehrlacher. “This sixth crown has real sporting value after intense struggles since December. I am very proud to have won the e-Trophée twice at the wheel of the Zoe Glace, in addition to a second place in 2020. I found myself chasing the title for the seventh year in a row, that’s now a situation that I manage to handle perfectly. Of course, there was motivation and determination, but I didn’t want to “take my head” in favor of pleasure. After the Super Pole, the cameras of the e-Trophée Andros even filmed me resting before the Super Finale Elite Pro. Winning the title after my big right arm fracture last September is a great reward, because I didn’t even know if I was going to be able to find all my reflexes behind the wheel after my recovery,” said Dubourg.

30 January / Young Swedish rallycross driver Patrik Hallberg is selected as the reserve driver in the European Final for the FIA’s Rally Star programme. The final was run at the Estering and selected winners from a field of 89 competitors from 22 nations, all aged between 17 and 26 years. “It feels great to be able to come here to such a cool event. To meet new people, learn new skills and achieve a good result is amazing. My goal has been driving Supercar in rallycross but I have never closed the door for rally. It will be a new step for me,” said Hallberg.

31 January / Rallycross Portugal announces its 2022 calendar which include a new venue at the Baltar kart circuit near Porto.

pics: IRX, DA Racing, RX Racing, FIA, KMS, Trophee Andros