RX Italia opener to Gabbiani. World RX calendar update.

20 March / Ittiri Rally Arena in Sardinia is the scene for the first Campionato Italiano Rallycross event of the year. Gian Maria Gabbiani is the winner, the Skoda Fabia R5 driver winning all four qualifiers and then bagging the final ahead of Fabio Mezzatesta (Peugeot 208) who was last of the four qualifiers. Rosario Corallo (Subaru Impreza) completed the finishers as Gianluca Leoni (Mitsubishi Lancer) was a non-starter in the final. KartCross was, as usual, the best contested category and Marcello Gallo (LifeLive TN5) who was second qualifier but took the win in the final. Riccardo Canzian was top qualifier but placed third in the final as Valentino Ledda also made his way ahead. Canzian, however, leads the championship thanks to his qualifying performance and third place. The SuperTouringCar category had just three starters and only two finishers in the final which was won by Arianna Corallo in her Opel Astra.

21 March / The FIA World Motor Sport Council approves a revised calendar for the FIA World Rallycross Championship and the FIA European Rallycross Championships. World RX will begin with a season launch event at Holjes in Sweden and include a TBC event as the season finale. RX2e features five events, the Euro RX1 series has six events starting with the Euro standalone at Nyirad in Hungary (which also includes RX3) and with Norway added to the schedule. RX3 is fixed at five events.

21 March / It’s off-season in Argentina but CARX is on promotional duty and has had been thrilling fans at an agricultural fair.

pics: RX Italia, World RX