Kristoffersson’s fifth World RX title. Vranckx is RX2e champ. McConnell’s Nitro win.

27 October / The FIA RX2e Championship will evolve for the 2023 season in which QEV will no longer offer its arrive and drive option that has been the foundation of the series over the last two years and cars will instead be available for private teams to buy or lease. Other changes include a 20kW power increase (to 270kW), freedom in the choice of suspension supplier and and additional set of gear ratios. “RX2e started out as an arrive-and-drive concept, with the aim of making cutting-edge electric technology accessible to as many drivers as possible. Now that goal has now been achieved, we are delighted to present our changes for season three, which we are confident will bolster the series’ appeal and reinforce its position as the best category for aspiring professional drivers in rallycross as well as other off-road disciplines,” said Joan Orús, CEO, QEV Technologies.

29 October / The 2020 British Rallycross Champion Mark Donnelly will return to the series at this weekend’s final round having not raced since stepping out of the 2021 championship. He will race a Citroen C4 Supercar.

29 October / Timmy Hansen became the third different event in the FIA World Rallycross Championship this year, winning round eight of the series at Barcelona. Johan Kristoffersson won both heats, his Porgression race and semi-final, but got tangled up with others in the first corner. Finishing fourth on the road he was later penalised for pushing Kevin Hansen off and dropped to fifth, behind the younger of the Hansen brothers. Niclas Gronholm led the chase of the older Hansen, Gustav Bergstrom making it to the podium again.

30 October / Johan Kristoffersson sealed his fifth FIA World Rallycross Championship by winning round nine in Barcelona. Unbeaten in the second day of the Spanish event which, with FIA RX2e in support was the first 100% electric event in the championship’s history, Kristoffersson completed the defence of his title with an event still to run. Round eight winner Timmy Hansen was in contention again, second in both heats he won his Progression race and semi-final but could not match Kristoffersson’s pace in the final. Ole Christian Veiby, who had suffered technical problems in Saturday’s event, was third, ahead of Klara Andersson and Niclas Gronholm, the latter struggling without power steering in his PWR.
The RX2e championship was decided in favour of Viktor Vranckx, the young Belgian sealing the title before the final in which he placed second, and worked winner Isak Sjokvist hard from the start. Nils Andersson completed the top three. Patrick O’Donovan missed the final after being penalised for his part in a crash at the end of SF2. Carlos Checa and Nick Heidfeld were classified ninth and tenth, but that masks the fact that both performed well in their rallycross debuts in which they faced a field full of drivers familiar with the RX2e cars.

30 October / After a summer break the Irish Rallycross Championship returned to action at Mondello Park where Derek Tohill was made to work hard for a narrow victory over Tommy Graham. Tohill won heats two and three but had been beaten by Graham’s older Fiesta VI in the opening heat of the day. Declan Kelly (Fiesta VII) and Paul Nolan (Mitsubishi Mirage) both went out in H1. In the Supercar final Tohill beat Graham by a couple of seconds, Patrick Ryan (Mitsubishi Colt) was third. Willie Coyne (Opel Corsa) beat older brother Michael (Vauxhall Nova) to win the Modified (Supernational) final in which Brian Sexton placed third in his Toyota Corolla. Anthony Kane (Honda Civic) won the Open Clubman final ahead of Nicole Drought (Renault Clio 172) and Christopher Grimes Jnr (Ford Fiesta Zetec). There were just two Junior racers, Toby McGuire beating Joshua Power in the final. Jake Sullivan won the buggy class and Emmet Watchorn took the rally car win in his Citroen C2. In the Superfinal Tohill again won, but was worked hard by Graham. Willie Coyne placed third ahead of Michael Coyne, Keiran Curran (Vauxhall Corsa), Lloyd Spendlove (Lotus Exige), Watchorn, and Kane.

30 October / Fraser McConnell wins the fourth Nitro RX event, his first victory in the series, at Glen Helen near Los Angeles. The Jamaican racer topped the battle brackets section of the event and won his heat race on Sunday, sending him to the final without needing to drive again. In the final McConnell was chased home by his DRR JC stable mates Robin Larsson and Andreas Bakkerud, the RX Cartel duo having each won an event earlier this year. “I approach every weekend with the same mindset, trust my instincts, trust the preparation, and achieve the best as I can. It does help when you have really good support like I did this weekend! It’s good to bounce back after the last event and put in some good laps this weekend, huge thanks to the team they worked their ass off for this so I’m really happy to bring it home,” said McConnell.

2 November / Anton Marklund is to drive the Munnich Motorsport Seat Ibiza in the final round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship at the Nurburgring. Marklund will replace Rene Munnich who has clashing buisness commitments. Marklund recently sealed his third FIA European Rallycross Championship title and is no stranger to World RX. “I got a phone call on Saturday evening and had just ten minutes to decide. I really thought my season was over after Spa but to get to race one of the new electric World RX cars isn’t the kind of opportunity that comes up every day, so I had to say yes.
 With no testing ahead of the race weekend and all the other drivers at the peak of their performance following almost a full season of experience, it’s going to be a huge challenge, but from the short time I’ve had trying out the RX2e car before, my driving style seems to suit electric pretty well.
 I’ve made no secret of my desire to return to the World Championship. I’ve definitely got some unfinished business there, and going into 2023 with some prior advantage of driving an RX1e car can only put me in a stronger position – but in terms of objectives for the weekend, I’m not putting any pressure on myself. I’ll go into it with a very humble approach, a lot of energy and positive vibes – and aiming to enjoy every single moment I’m out on-track,” said Marklud.

2 November / Klara Andersson will race in Extreme E again in the final event of the 2022 season. A late substitute for the injured Jutta Kleinschmidt in Chile last month, Andersson helped the ABT Cupra team to third place and is now recalled for the season finale in Uruguay. “I’ve never been to Uruguay before, so even the whole journey is an adventure. We now can sort ourselves out in advance, clarify open questions and prepare in a structured way. Onsite, I’ve got the course walk to get to know the track and two Free Practice sessions to get used to everything before Qualifying – a normal race weekend, in other words,” said Andersson.

Pekka Rantanen / We are sad to note the death on 23 October of Pekka Rantanen. The Finn, who was 60, stepped into the European Rallycross Championship in 1986, completing his maiden season with a twin turbo, four-wheel drive Porsche 911. Among those to switch to Group B machinery for the 1987 season, Rantanen started with an RS200 adapted from a road car and gradually developed the car to full race trim. His only European event win came in the RS200 in 1992 at Ingelmunster in Belgium. Plans for a Group A-based Audi Supercar that would have replaced the RS200 in 1993 were never realised and Rantanen’s career ended with the Group B era.

This weekend / The 5 Nations British Rallycross Championship completes its year with a two-day event at Lydden. There’s racing into darkness and fireworks on Saturday before the event concludes on Sunday.

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