Nitro RX dates. Snow at RX Portugal. O’Donovan to race new Proton in Euro RX.

29 March / Nitro RX reveals its full race schedule and a calendar that spans the winter and concludes in March 2023. The opening round will be at Lydden Hill in Great Britain. The British event is slated for 18-19 June and is the first of ten events in six countries. Nitro RX will move on to Sweden and Finland before completing three events in the US. It then goes to Saudi Arabia before two events in Canada and the finale in the US.

31 March / Patrick O’Donovan will tackle a full season in the Motorsport UK British Rallycross Championship 5 Nations Trophy driving the Ford Fiesta Supercar previously raced by his father, Ollie. The 17-year-old will be among the very youngest Supercar racers as he enters his fourth season in rallycross. Patrick O’Donovan won the RX150 series in British RX last year as well as racing in RX2e where he was prominent in his first international season. “My first Supercar test was indescribably amazing and not at all how I expected it to be – it was much faster! The lap times are very similar to the RX2e cars I raced in World RX last year, but there’s so much more going on inside in a Supercar, you’re very busy and it feels very fast. We have some very good sponsors involved this year and I’m working hard on that side to give me the best chance elsewhere in rallycross too … I want to follow in my father’s footsteps and win the British Championship,” said O’Donovan.

1 April / Among a host of fanciful April Fools stories, BritishRX announces that Extreme E racer Catie Munnings will race in the Swift Sport series at Lydden over the Easter weekend. Munnings races with Timmy Hansen for Andretti United in Extreme E.

1 April / The Latvian and Baltic RX series will organise a test day at Riga’s Bikernieki race track on Sunday 24 April.

3 April / The first round of the Portuguese rallycross Championship took place at Montalegre where, in true Montalegre fashion, the full range of weather, including snow storms, added to the drama of the event. Tiago Alexandre (Peugeot 208) was the winner of the Campeonato de Portugal de Ralicross season opener, Jose Oliveira (208) and Oscar Ortfeldt (Ford Fiesta) the only other Supercar starters. Super1600 remains strongly contested in RX Portugal and, armed with a new Audi A1, defending champion Joao Ribeiro was top qualifier and the winner of the final in which Joaquim Machado (Peugeot 208) and Jorge Machado (Citroen C2) completed the podium. Mario Barbosa qualified his Citroen Saxo second but was disqualified from the final. Gustavo Enriques (Semog Bravo) won the Junior kartcross final, Duarte Camelo (Peugeot 106) was best of the ‘Inciados’ field, and Jorge Gonzaga (LBS RX01) won the kartcross final, improving from third on the grid to lead home top qualifier Alexandre Borges (Semog Bravo) and Joao Pinheiro (LBS RX01). Pedro Rocha (Citroen Saxo), Carlos Pacheco (Saxo) and Bruno Campos (Peugeot 306) won the three National classes. There was also a demonstration race for trucks in which Jose Rodrigues (MAN) was top qualifier and winner of the final.

3 April / Fuglau in Austria was host to the first round of the Austrian Rallycross Championship, the event at the MJP Arena also counting for the Czech and Slovakian national championships. The evergreen Alois Holler (Ford Fiesta) was the Supercar winner, Roland Rohrer (Mitsubishi Lancer E6) the only other finisher as Siegfried Kandlbinder (Focus) was not classified. The event included 16 classes, among the main winners were Stefan Kellner (Renault Megane) over 2000cc STC, Roman Castoral (Opel Astra) up to 2000cc STC and Nico Stachelberger (Citroen Saxo) upto 1600cc STC. There were 17 starters in the Skoda Cup which included a pair of Fabias for Euro RX racer Marcel Suchy and his son Tomas. The class was won by Martin Urban’s Felicia.

4 April / More than a year after the car was announced, Ollie O’Donovan’s confirms that he will race his Proton Iriz Supercar in the FIA European Rallycross Championship and in the Motorsport UK British Rallycross Championship 5 Nations Trophy. The project is a collaboration between Tony Bardy Motorsport (TBM), and Proton Motorsport rally specialists Mellors Elliot Motorsport (MEM), with MEM having constructed the new car in its Derbyshire workshops. The car has completed an initial test and is due to appear at the British RX test and media day prior to being raced at Easter. “To return to the European Championship has also been a key goal for this project, and I can’t wait to drive at Nyirad in Hungary for the first-time next month, and to give the Iriz RX it’s international debut!” said O’Donovan.

This weekend / The Eurocircuit at Valkenswaard has had a troubled time of late but is back in action this weekend when it hosts the first round of the Dutch and Belgian Championships. Supercars are likely to be few (if any) but two-wheel drive action is sure to be good. The Polish Rallycross Championship begins at Poznan, the first of three visits to the circuit which debuted in the series last year.

pics: Nitro RX, RX Racing, MJP Arena, RX Portugal, Rallycross LV, Red Bull Content Pool