Staniszewski on top at Slomczyn. Calafat gets CERX opener. Marklund & Baumanis for Euro RX.

20 April / The new Spanish rallycross Championship announces that its opening round will take place at the Calafat circuit in Tarragona. The previously published date of 4-5 June remains unchanged. The event will be organised by V-Line Org which is run by Francesc Gutierrez – whose father Paco was the organiser at the old Sils-Girona circuit that hosted the FIA European Championship in 1987, ’88 and ’89. Calafat has so far been used as a test venue, notably for the development of the RX2e cars. “Having a track like Circuit Calafat at CERX, where present and future rallycross cars are developed, is a great pleasure, which will be complete thanks to the involvement of V-Line Org. Its experience in organising races guarantees the success of the event and, above all, the link with the history that exists through Francesc Gutierrez makes the event very special and important to us.” said CERX manager Pablo Lopez Castillo.
La Copa de Espana de Rallycross (CERX) has also confirmed that Cross Car will form a key part of its events. Adult and Junior championship will be run within the series which has also published a plan to fully adopt FIA Cross Car regulations within the next few seasons.

23 April / Jere Kalliokoski says he will begin the defence of the Finnish Rallycross Championship in his usual Ford Fiesta Supercar. The completion of his new Mercedes Supercar has been delayed by component supply problems and Kalliokoski now does not expect to race the new car until late in the year.

24 April / Slomczyn in Poland hosted the second round of the Polish championship, round two of the CEZ series and the season opener for the Czech national championship. The event winner was Polish Supercar star Zbigniew Staniszewski who dominated the event in his Ford Fiesta. Czech visitor Ales Fucik (VW Polo) was the only real challenger as the remaining four runners in Supercar were drawn from Poland’s Supercar Lite category. Staniszewski won all four heats and the final, Fucik second in every race and a shade more than one second behind at the end of the final. Lukasz Tyszkiewicz (Fiesta) was third and best of the Lite runners. On home ground Damian Litwinowicz (Audi A1) flipped the tables on Jiri Susta (Skoda Fabia), avenging his Mariapocs defeat at the hands of the young Czech to take the CEZ Super1600 victory. Susta was out-qualified by Dominik Senegacnik (Polo) but then moved up to take second in the final, Senegacnik placing third. The CEZSuper Touring Car (STC) classes were won by Konrad Gryz (Peugeot 106) who emerged best of the 1600cc runners. Jakub Kowalczyk (Honda Civic) topped out the 2000cc class where again there was misfortune for Roman Castoral, this time the veteran star went out of the event after a non-finish in Q3. In the over 2000cc class it was Lukasz Zoll (BMW E36) who took the win. Top qualifier Tomas Michal (VW Polo) non-finished in semi-final one in which Zoll was the winner. Tomasz Luszkowicz (BMW E36) won semi two and then chased Zoll home in the final. The Mistrzostwa Polski Rallycross added its usual RWD Cup in which Jaroslaw Frydrych (E36) was the winner and the SC Cup which boasted 29 Fiat-mounted starters and was won by Krzysztof Mencel (Seicento).

26 April / Double FIA European Rallycross Champion Anton Marklund will bid for a third crown this year when he races a SET Promotion Hyundai i20 in the series. “Since even before I began racing in rallycross myself, I have seen SET Promotion always competing at the top in whichever category they are in. We started to discuss what we could do this year at the end of last season, and finally decided to work together. There will be a lot of cars and drivers at a very high level in the European Championship so it will be far from easy, but the target is to challenge for the title. I’ve driven the Hyundai in a small test already, and I have to say I was quite surprised by how good it was on the gravel. I’m particularly looking forward to Holjes as my home event, and Norway as it is pure fun to drive there. I’m also looking forward to going back to Hungary. I raced there in 2013 and it’s an amazing track. Kicking off the season at an old-school circuit will be great!” said Marklund.

27 April / Janis Baumanis is to return to the FIA European Rallycross Championship racing a Peugeot 208 that will be run by #yellowsquad – the Hansen Motorsport spin-off run by Kevin Hansen. Baumanis had his first Supercar drives with Hansen back in 2015. “Last year, it was a very nice championship with good drivers, and I believe it will be even more interesting with even more good names and cars this year. I’m looking forward to having a lot of fun and fighting for the top places,” said Baumanis whose car will be overseen by former Euro RX racer Eric Faren.

This weekend / All eyes on France this weekend where, arguably, the biggest and best national chamoionship gets underway at Lessay. Champion Samuel Peu begins his title defence with 2021 runner-up Romauld Delaunay leading the chase and a 21-car Supercar field entered. Rallycross France plans to stream the event on YouTube. The Norwegian championship begins at Momarken and the Estonian season bursts into life at Kulbilohu. See our full events listing below.

pics: CERX, Rallicross SM, rallycross.pl, World RX, Rallycross France,