Larsson and Bakkerud in Nitro RX 1-2 for JC DRR. Tamm in Estonia. Israelsson top in Sweden.

18 June / The third round of the Estonian Championship took place at Misso where Maiko Tamm (Mitsubishi Lancer) took a narrow Rallikross Eesti win ahead of the similar car of Tonu Peek. Mart Tikkerbar (Lancer) was a little further back in third place. Marko Muru (Honda Civic) won the Super1600 final, leading home Rytis Rutkauskas (Audi A1) and Kevin Allik (Mitsubishi Colt) while Robin Allik (Civic) was best of the Junior 1600 runners. Markus Abram won the Crosskart Extreme final where he ran out a couple of seconds ahead of Tamo Toodo and Jakko Viilo. The Kart 650 final went to Karl Martin Miliste while the 125 class was won by Armin Raag.

19 June / Nitro Rallycross completes it first event outside the US with Robin Larsson taking victory at Lydden Hill. The track is changed for the event; the Joker Lap removed from Chesson’s Drift (now renamed Talladega) and sited in Pits Bend, Chesson’s now a wider and banked turn that runs down the meadow to a new jump before rejoining the race circuit ahead of the Devil’s Elbow. Larsson tops the order in the first day after winning the final battle bracket against Kris Meeke whose car stopped. Larsson won again on Sunday morning, going directly the final which he led from the start, even holding his lead when he took the Joker Lap. Larsson’s teammate Andreas Bakkerud slipped to third while the Joker Laps played out but then returned to second and completed a one-two finish for the JC DRR RX Cartel team. The supporting races in the event comprised NRX Next (Supercar Lites) which ran a double-header programme in which Casper Jansson, Ole Henry Steinsholt and Tommi Hallman filled the Saturday podium. In the second day Simon Olofsson recovered from a roll on Saturday to take the win, Hallman second and Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky third. Fraser McConnell (Hyundai i20) won a thin Supercar support race, Yuri Bellevskiy (Audi S1) second ahead of Patrick O’Donovan (Fiesta). A group of 10 Cross Cars (all Speedcar Wonders) also ran a double-header, Finn Passi Penttinen beat compatriot Riku Huuhka and Swede Isac Egonsson on Saturday while on Sunday siblings Sebastian and Frida Enholm took a one-two finish ahead of Jimmie Osterberg. Retro Rallycross was also on the bill, Rob Gibson (Metro 6R4) winning the 4WD final and Lee Wood (Ford Escort MkII) taking 2WD honours.

19 June / A double-header event at Vasteras opened the Swedish National Rallycross Championship, Rallycross SM. The 2400 class headlines in the two-wheel drive only events and in Saturday final the victory went to Andreas Israelsson (BMW M3) who had qualified third before winning the first Semi-Final. Top qualifier Ramus Olsson (BMW E36) wound up third in the final, Rabon Staro (Toyota Corolla) fighting through from ninth place in qualifying to finish second in the final. Israelsson and Staro were one-two again on Sunday, the pair also second and third in qualifying. Per Berglund (BMW E30) was top qualifier but went out in the Semi-Finals. In the 2150cc class the round one win was taken by Anton Eriksson Therus (BMW E36). Tenth in qualifying, Therus was second in SF1 before taking the win ahead of the similar E36s of Fredrik Tinnsten and Niklas Bjorse. Top qualifier and winner of SF1 on Saturday, Filip Martinsson made up for a non-finish in the round one final by taking a maximum points clean sweep victory on Sunday. Therus was second with David Hjertberg (BMW E30) finishing third. The Junior championship was dominated by Oskar Hellstrom (BMW E30) and Joel Uhr (Saab 99). On Saturday Hellstrom beat Uhr to win round one, while on Sunday the order was reversed. Alexander Jeppsson (BMW 325) placed third on Saturday with Isac Torlamb (E30) taking third on Sunday. The Historic class is also included in 2022 and the first honours here went to Mattias Harnered (Volvo PV). Peter Fransson (VW Beetle) took the round two win on Sunday.

Watch / We know how much effort you will make to watch a rallycross event, but this fan at Misso for last Saturday’s Rallikross Eesti event in Estonia surely deserves some form of special recognition.

Listen / A week or so after historic Czech track Sedlcany hosted the CEZ series, this little gem has emerged. It is not, of course, the first rallycross song, Holjes regulars the Rune Rudberg Band has it’s own ‘Heja Holjes’ song. And long, long ago Norwegian death metal band Black Debbath released its ‘Martin Schanche’ track. Back to the Czech Republic, artist Tomas Zajic said: “It’s a big moment for me. I managed to combine two passions of life into one, namely rallycross and rock music. I prepared this single with my backing band LaPadite for almost a year. And I think the result is worth the wait. It’s a tribute to Sedlcany.”

This weekend / Take deep breath and dive in, this is a busy weekend… Top of the bill, the Rallycross France moves to Chateauroux where battle rejoins and former champion Fabien Pailler throws his hat into the ring at the beginning of a season of selected events. RX Portugal is back at its spiritual home of Lousada for what is always a popular event and the Norwegian Championship goes to Finnskog. The Dutch Championship is in action at the Eurocircuit and the Austrian and Hungarian series meet at Fuglau.

pics: Nitro RX, SBF, Rallikross EE,