Kristoffersson underlines World RX title. Pastrana & Larsson win in Nitro RX.

11 November / In the first day of a double-header for Nitro RX at Wild Horse Pass, Travis Pastrana took a narrow victory over Conner Martell, the teammates split by 0.4s at the chequer with Andreas Bakkerud completing the podium in third place. Kris Meeke had also been in the lead battle until technical problems slowed his car. Casper Jansson beat George Megennis and Jimmy Henderson to win the NRX Next final on the first day.

12 November / The Stewards of the 5 Nations British Rallycross Championship decide on the allocation of championship points from the final round which was cancelled because of bad weather. The British Championship completed round 10 on Saturday (in which Patrick O’Donovan became the champion), round 11 on Sunday did not take place. The Retro Rallycross Championship completed only one heat on the first day of the event and the Stewards have decided that no championship points will be awarded. All of the remaining championships completed three of the four qualifying races on Saturday and the Stewards decided that championship points should be awarded based on the results of those qualifiers. Julian Godfrey and Tristan Ovenden were confirmed in second and third places in the British Championship, behind O’Donovan. Max Langmaid took the Junior Championship title and Max Weatherley was confirmed as the Swift Sport Champion. On a tie-break, Tony Lynch was awarded the John Button Trophy in Retro Rallycross.

13 November / Johan Kristoffersson completes the FIA World Rallycross Championship season with his eighth win in the ten-event series, collecting victory at the Nurburgring to confirm his fifth title. Beaten only in the second heat in which Kevin Hansen emerged as the best driver, Kristoffersson racked up another win in his usual style. Hansen was second on the road in the final but was later disqualified from the final when post-race scrutineering discovered a non-compliant suspension wishbone on his Peugeot 208. That pushed Niclas Gronholm up to second on the day and Timmy Hansen to third. More dramatically, it dropped Kevin Hansen from third to fifth in the championship as Gronholm moved up to third and OC Veiby to fourth place. Anton Marklund returned to World RX in Munnich Motorsport’s Seat Ibiza and was eventually classified eighth, ahead of Guerlain Chicherit who gave GCK’s new Lancia Delta its debut.

The final round of the FIA European Rallycross Championship for RX3 joined the bill at Nurburgring where Kobe Pauwels underlined his championship winning form by taking the event win. The heats had been dominated by Jan Cerny who won all three before placing second in his Progression race and semi-final. He then dropped to last place in the final. The sensation of the event was Jens Hvaal who, fresh from the Juior class of the Norwegian championship, made a good impression in his first event with a non-standard car and placed second in is Skoda Fabia. Damian Litwinowicz completed his season in third place.

13 November / The second part of the Nitro double-header in Phoenix was won by Robin Larsson who won the first heat and then progressed straight to the final in which he claimed his second Nitro RX win. Oliver Eriksson placed second with Kris Meeke grabbing third place. Andreas Bakkerud crashed out of the final, rolling on the jump in the first lap and causing a restart. George Megennis returned to the top step of the Next podium. Jimmy Henderson took second with Lana Vacala third.

13 November / The Portuguese Rallycross Championship season concluded at Lousada. The delayed final round again had just one Supercar so attention was focused on Super1600. Rogerio Sousa took the event win in his Ford Fiesta, his task eased a little by the fact that Mario Barbosa drove a tactical event and brought his Citroen Saxo home in a safe second place to make sure of the championship crown. That one RX Portugal Supercar was driven by Jose Oliveira who ran out the seven laps of the final in his Peugeot 208. Sergio Castro (ASK Evo) beat Jorge Gonzala (LBS RX01) to winb the Cross Car final in which Diogo Soares (Kincar) was third. Guilherme Nunes (Peugeot 106) took the Junio victory ahead of Rafaela Barbosa (Citroen Saxo) and Goncalo Rocha (Peugeot 208). Pedro Rocha was best of the National 1.6 racers in his Citroen Saxo and Adao Pinto won the National 2WD final with his Opel Astra.

13 November / Mondello Park hosted the sixth round of the Irish Rallycross Championship where Derek Tohill again led the way, setting fastest times in all three heats and winning the Supercar final and the Superfinal. Four of the five Supercar starters made it to the final, Tommy Graham placing second with newcomer Michael Leonard Jnr third in his first day out with an ex-Hedstroms Motorsport Ford Fiesta. Willie Coyne (Opel Corsa) emerged as best of the Modified (Supernational) field with Peter McGarry returning to form and grabbing second in his Volvo C30, ahead of Keiran Curran’s Opel. Anthony Kane (Honda Civic) was best of the Open Clubman racers, Nicole Drought (Renault Clio 172) taking second placeahead of Colin Dowling (Citroen Saxo). Thomas O’Rafferty (Vauxhall Nova) was best of the rallycar field. Toby McGuire beat Joshua Power in the Junior final and Se Og Martin won the buggy class. Leonard got the better of Graham to take second place in the Superfinal, McGarry taking fourth place as best of the two-wheel drive runners.

16 November / Nitro RX announces Calgary as the location for one of kits Canadian events this winter. The 2022-23 series is already scheduled to race in Quebec in January and will now run a second snow and ice event at Calgary on 04-05 February. A March 2023 event in the USA is still TBA and the championship calendar on the Nitro website has now removed the previously listed Saudi event.

This weekend / The Spanish championship resumes at Calafat for the penultimate round of its first year while the Belgian and Dutch championships come together at Mettet for a double-header weekend that concludes both series.

pics: World RX, Nitro RX, JC DRR, British RX, RX Portugal, IRX, CERX