O’Donovan wins British RX Pembrey. Kristoffersson meets Prince, wins Holjes.


by Rallycross World |

14 May / Timmy Hansen and Johan Kristoffersson receive royal awards in Sweden. The two winners of the FIA World Rallycross Championship were honoured with the Motorprinsens Medalj (Motor Prince’s Medal) which is given in memory of Sweden’s late Prince Bertil, a successful motorsport competitor in the 1930s. The medals were presented to the two by Prince Bertil’s great-nephew and godson, Prince Carl Philip, himself a successful racer. “It was an honour to visit the royal castle, meet the prince and receive the medal for my world championship title back in 2019. Covid obviously came in-between, so we only had the ceremony now but it was a great experience and I feel super-honoured. It’s also a big statement about rallycross as a sport, and I was happy to represent the discipline in a room like that. Of course, I shared the day with Johan and a couple of others who have achieved amazing things throughout their careers. My dad also got the medal, I think in 2007, so now we are two Hansens in the family to receive it. It’s a big honour, and I will put my medal there in the workshop next to dad’s. That will be very nice,” said Hansen. “It’s always a privilege to be invited to such an important ceremony, and it was an honour to be presented with the Motor Prince’s Medal. I’m proud to represent Swedish motorsport all around the world, and it means a lot to be recognised in my home country. Sweden has such a long history of success in this sport – particularly in rallycross – and hopefully mine and Timmy’s achievements will inspire future generations to follow in our footsteps,” said Kristoffersson.

Rallycross World | Johan_Kristoffersson_WorldRX_Motor_Prince_Medal
Rallycross World | Timmy_Hansen_WorldRX_Motor_Prince_Medal

14 May / The British Rallycross Championship started a double-header event at Pembrey where Patrick O’Donovan (Ford Fiesta), in only his second weekend of Supercar racing, took victory and a maximum points score. Defending champion Derek Tohill (Ford Fiesta) chased O’Donovan home in second place with Tristan Ovenden (Citroen DS3) third. The Bleasdale brothers notched-up a one-two finish in their Vauxhall VX220s, the pair overcoming Paige Bellerby (Lotus Exige) who led at the start, with Jason Bleasdale taking the win ahead of brother Darren. Owen Robins passed Alex Langmaid to take the Junior win while Andy Hawkes was best of the BMW Mini field and John Cross took the Super Retro Rallycross win.

Rallycross World | 2022_5NBRX_R3_TOHILL_(105)
Rallycross-World-Retro-Rallycross-BRX_R3_PEMBREY

14 May / Johan Kristoffersson won the opening round of the RallyX season at Holjes. But behind that statement the battle for the event win was close, Anton Marklund working his way to the front of the field after an early joker. Marklund was denied victory after the steering on his Hyundai broke landing from the jump in the last lap and Kristoffersson retook the lead to win. Sondre Evjen (Audi) placed third. Kevin Eriksson won the Supercar Lites final after passing Simon Olofsson in the last corner. Martin Enlund placed third. Norwegian Thomas Eek Murstad was best of the Crosskart field and Finn Lauri Halonen topped the Junior Crosskart order.

Rallycross World | RallyX R1, Hoiljes, SBF
Rallycross World | RallyX R1 Supercar Lites Olofsson

15 May / With the taste of victory still fresh in his mouth Patrick O’Donovan claimed a second event win and moved into the lead of the British Rallycross Championship. With the circuit layout changed to run in clockwise direction for the second day of the double-header event, O’Donovan again dominated the event. the action behind the young pacesetter was tough, Steve Hill eventually grabbing second place in hi Mitsubishi Lancer E10 after passing Julian Godfrey’s wounded Fiesta in the last lap. Derek Tohill retired his Fiesta after a clash with Godfrey. Ollie O’Donovan (Ford Focus) placed fourth. Jason Bleasdale repeated his Supernational victory, this time Paige Bellerby taking second place ahead of Darren Bleasdale. Max Watt claimed his first Junior victory, Bradley Turner was best of the BMW Mini field, Ray Morgan (Escort III rwd) topped the Super Retro order and Tony Lynch (Toyota MR2) won in Retro Rallycross. Max Weatherley claimed his second Swift Soport win of the weekend, but worked harder to beat James Constantine for this one and Krisztian Szabo dominated the RX150 series.

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15 May / Johan Kristoffersson completed a double at Holjes by winning the second RallyX event. Kristoffersson led from start to finish this time, pursued all the way by Mattias Ekstrom (who had crashed out of the round one final in the first lap). Enzo Ide (Audi) progressed from the third row of the grid to take third place on the podium. Oliver Eriksson made a good start from the second row of the final grid and led the Supercar Lites final all the way. Martin Enlund managed to grab second place, splitting the Eriksson brothers while Ole Henry Steinsholt (in the ex-Nils Andersson car) placed fourth in first Lites weekend. Having been disqualified from the Saturday final, Elias Svensson claimed the Crosskart victory on Sunday. In the Junior field Mikael Uitto made sure that Finnish drivers completed a dominant weekend, Lukas Andersson placing second again. The Open 2WD class supported the event and was won by Norwegian Jonas Dalseth Jacobsen (VW Polo) on both days.

Rallycross World | RallyX R2 Holjes, Kristoffersson, Ekstrom

15 May / The CEZ and Austrian Championships share an event at the PS Racing Center at Greinbach. The Supercar win is taken by Czech racer Marek Joura (Mitsubishi Mirage) who hands down and rare defeat to Zbigniew Staniszewski (Fiesta) and Austrian veteran Alois Holler (Fiesta). Holler had won the previous day’s Austrian championship final, leading home Staniszewski and Joura. Hungarian racer Tibor Vamosi (BMW M3) took a pair of victories in the STC 2000+ category, Roman Castoral similarly successful in the 2000cc class and bagging some wins after a rough start to his season. Lukas Dirnberger (Skoda Fabia) and Radek Dvorak (Fabia) shared the 1600cc wins, the latter winning on Sunday. Jiri Susta (Fabia) was the Super1600 winner on both days, but the class mustered just four starters.

Rallycross World | CEZ, Austrian Championship, Greinbach, Joura, Holler
Rallycross World | CEZ, Austrian Championship Greinbach Jiri Susta Super1600

This weekend / It’s getting serious. Just a year into its control of the FIA Championships, Rallycross Promoter is rolling out its first Euro RX standalone event. In a move sure to please the purists, the event is at Hungary’s old skool Nyirad track. View it on RX+.

Also this weekend, RX Italia goes to Maggiora for a reverse direction night race and a ‘Beer Party’ on Saturday night. Ther Polish championship runs at Slomczyn and Arendonk hosts the Belgian and Dutch championships in its long awaited return to national-level action. Estonian Baltic RX and NEZ action is at Laitse Rallypark.

Rallycross World | Arendonk, Belgium

pics: World RX, SBF, RallyX, PS Racing Center, 5 Nations British RX, BORA


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