Meunier best in France. Haapamaki’s first in Finland. Bryntesson and Belevskiy win Riga.

7 July / World RX delays the start of the 2022 FIA World Rallycross Championship. An announcement from Rallycross Promoter said: “The 2022 FIA World Rallycross Championship will begin at Hell in Norway next month (13-14 August), following the postponement of Germany’s Nürburgring event to allow teams maximum time to prepare for the sport’s exciting new electric era. Teams have been working tirelessly behind-the-scenes in advance of the electric switch, but global events over the past couple of years have caused supply chain issues leading to unforeseen delays in car builds.” The Nurburgring event scheduled for the end of July has now been moved to 12-13 November. The announcement also confirmed the date and location of the additional event previously listed as TBC, Barcelona now forming the penultimate round on 29-30 October.

8 July / RallyX Nordic moved to Riga for the fifth and sixth events of its year, the first part of the double-header run over Thursday and Friday. Niclas Gronholm (Hyundai i20) dominated qualifying and started the final from pole but went off in the final after contact from Yury Belevskiy. Gronholm’s car was then hit by OC Veiby’s Audi. Belevskiy won on the road but was disqualified which handed the win to Thomas Bryntesson (VW Polo). Enzo Ide and Philip Gehrman were second and third in Audi S1s. Simon Olofsson continued his recent good run by winning the Supercar Lites final from Martin Ekspjuth and Jimmie Walfridson. Reinis Nitiss (Kamikaz K3) won the Cross Car event, beating compatriot Ronalds Baldins (Speedcar Wonder) and Patrik Hallberg (Crosscar Edge). Joonatan Ylilammi (Speedcar Xtrem) was best of the 22-strong Junior field, joined on the podium by Mikael Uitto (Speedcar) and Lauro Halonen (Ydrefalk). The two-wheel drive open category had just even starters and was won by Viktor Johansson and his BMW hybrid-powered Mercedes 190.

9 July / The opening round of the Finnish rallycross Championship, Rallicross SM, tookm place at Jalasjarvi where Henri Haapamaki (Ford Fiesta) claimed his first Supercar win after outpacing the rest in finals which were run in wet conditions.- “I was afraid of the start in the final, since I had not practised in rainy weather this year, not even the first start. It was successful, but then at the first corner the master was in control. I even had to drive a bit to the side of the track in order to gain traction … after that, I was very careful, it’s a long five laps like that,” said Haapamaki. Mika Liimatainen and defending champion Jere Kalliokoski joined Haapamaki on the podium. Olli Lahti (Toyota) won the Supernational SRC class where he led home Ville Mikkonen and Sami Nikunen. Local racer Jere Tikka dominated the Autokross class, winning every time he went to the start on his home circuit. Mika Liimatainen bagged his second runner-up award of the day here and third place was collected by Tuomas Venalainen. The chanpionship’s new V1600 class produced a maiden victory for Matias Lautamaki.

10 July / Rallycross France visits Pont de Ruan where Damien Meunier (VW Polo) lands his first victory. Philippe Maloigne (Renault Clio) tops the qualifying order ahead of Manu Anne (Peugeot 208) and Romauld Delaunay (Citroen DS3), but in the final phase of the event fifth qualifier Meunier makes progress to win his semi-final. Delaunay wins the other semi and in the final it is Meunier who gains the upper hand to win from Maloigne and Delaunay who returns to the top of the championship points on a day when title holder Samuel Peu (208) is restricted to sixth place. David Bouet qualifies his new Renault Clio top of the Super1600 order but goes out in the semi-finals and it is Audi racer Anthony Paillardon who comes through to take the win. David Moulin grabs second place in his Dacia Sandero with Maximillien Eveno (Peugeot 108) third. Valentin Lumet takes a maximum points score in the Junior championship in which Tom le Jossec is second ahead of Luc Derrien. Amelie Moliexe is similarly dominant in the Coupe Feminine where she lands another victory. Aude Dupont and Melanie Lefrancois complete the top three. Division Three is won by Gregory le Geurneve (Mini Cooper) and Nicolas Bothorel (Citroen DS3) leads the Division Four runners home.

10 July / Extreme E completes a double-header in Sardinia with Johan Kristoffersson and Mikaela Ahlin Kottulinsky taking victory for Rosberg X Racing. Kristoffersson had been penalised in the first event of the double, docked 30 seconds after an incidemt with Carlos Sainz in which the Spanish veteran rolled. The penalty handed victory to Sarah Price and Kyle Le Duc in the Ganassi Hummer, Xite Racing taking second with Timo Scheider and Tamara Molinaro with the Rosberg car in third. Kristoffersson and Ahlin Kottulinsky won round three of the series, adding to their season opening victory and ending the weekend with a 37 point lead in the series. X44 placed second with Timmy Hansen and Catie Munnings climbing to third in the Andrettis United car after the ABT Cupra car was disqualified when Jutta Kleinschmidt failed to correctly fasten her safety harness.

10 July / Nitro RX announces cancels its planned event at the Kymi Ring in Finland. A statement from series owner Thrill One said: “Nitro Circus has produced successful events in Finland in the past and, given the country’s passion for rallycross and motorsports in general, Nitro RX hopes to be able to return. Once series organisers have clear visibility as to the completion of the circuit as well as the new management structure of KymiRing, Nitro RX will assess the viability of holding future events at the venue.”

10 July / Round six of RallyX Nordic was joined by the local Latvian Championship at Riga where storms affected the finals. After being disqualified on Friday, Yury Belevskiy (Peugeot 208) survived to win the Sunday event. Second in qualifying to Enzo Ide, Belevskiy won semi-final two and then mastered the wet conditions of the final to win. Sondre Evjen won semi-final one and then placed second in the final with Thomas Bryntesson adding third place to Friday’s victory. Martin Ekspjuth was top qualifier in Supercar Lites and won semi-final one before leading the final and looking set for his first win. When problems forced Ekspjuth to retire Casper Jansson picked up the win, leading home Ole Henry Steinsholt and Isak Sjokvist. Elias Svensson (Casmat) got the better of Reinis Nitiss to win the Cross Car final, Ronalds Baldins taking third place. Karl Peder Nordstrand (Speedcar Wonder) was best of the Junior racers and was joined on the podium by Mikael Uitto and Joonatan Ylilaami. Simon Engsvik (VW Polo) topped the 2wd Open class on Sunday.

10 July / The Belgian and German championships shared the day at the Glosso Circuit where the over 2000cc Supernational class was the headline category. Kristof Bex bagged another win with his Volvo S40, leading home the similar cars of Glenn Cools and Ludo Hermans. In the up to 2000cc class Martijn Vanhove (BMW 1) emerged as the winner and was joined on the podium by Kurt Lambers (BMW M3) and Joel Strackx (Honda Civic). Kobe Pauwels (LifeLive TN5) won the Cross Car class. There were 17 starters and Pauwels was chased home by Tom Hendrichs (TN5) and Jan Keller (Peters). Just four Junior Cross Car racers started, Romauld Demelenne (TN5) the best of the bunch. The Super1600 win was taken by Nick Vanalken (VW Polo) with the evergreen Davy Van Den Branden (Citroen DS3) second ahead of Yves Teelen Peugeot 208) . Mark Van Eyken won the Superbuggy category.
The visiting German series brought a handful of Supercars of which Michael Grunwald (Subaru Impreza) was the best. Ludo Hermans popped up as the winner of the German over 2000cc Supernational class, local knowledge helping him beat Bastian Sichelschmidt (BMWE30) while Jelle Blockx (Volvo 2400 placed third. Sven Seeliger (Fiesta) held off Dustin Volzer’s Opel Manta B to win the up to 2000cc final with Bennet Zobel third in his Fiesta. Dave Tijdink (JVDC) beat Markus Strumpler (TN5) to win Cross Car and Samuel Drews led Simon Rechenmacher (both LifeLive TN5) in Junior Cross Car. The DRX’s Rookie Cup was won by Marcel Euteneuer (VW Polo) and Andreas Huhn (Honda Civic) won the Production class. Alexander Teltsch (Citroen C2) was the only finisher in Super1600.

This weekend / Rallycross Portugal returns to Montalegre and is unlikely to suffer from the snow it experienced in its last visit. Nyirad hosts the Hungarian Rallycross Championship in what will likely be a scorching hot event and across the border in Italy RX Italia gets a visit from the CEZ series at Castelleto.

pics: World RX, Rallicross SM. Rallycross France, RallyX, Rallycross LV, DRX, Glossocircuit