Barredo is first Spanish RX champion. Neuville wins at Mettet’s BEL – NED double.

18 November / The Portuguese Rallycross Cup event has been moved from Baltar to Sever do Vouga. The decision to move the event has been made by all involved in the RX Portugal organisation and both circuits, and with consideration to protect the recently rebuilt track at Baltar from what is expected to be bad weather on the race weekend of 3-4 December.

20 November / The final round of the first Spanish Rallycross Championship took place at Calafat. Inaki Barredo became the inaugural champion, the Nissan Micra N5 driver playing the long game in the series final which was won by the similar car of Roberto Mendez. Edgar Vigo (Hyundai i20 N5) made the first move in the final but by the end of the first lap it was all about Mendez and Barredo who pulled away from the rest. Jonathan Ruiz Ruiz claimed third in his Peugeot 308 N5. Sergi Perez became champion in the CERX2 category for controlled spec Peugeot 208s.

19-20 November / The Belgian and Dutch championships gathered at Mettet for the a double-header weekend that completed both championships. The first day’s action was cut short when the event ran out of time. That meant the the winners were declared after Q3. Kristof Bex (Volvo S40) was the Supernational +2000 winner (best two results of three races run). Nick Neyens (Ford Escort) took the -2000 category and Romain Barre (Peugeot 208) won Super1600. Thiery Neuville (LifeLive) won in Cross Car have been fastest in the first two qualifiers Romauld Delene (LifeLive) was best of the Junior Cross Car field. Max van Empel was best of the RST runners and SuperBuggy was won by Rene van Roy. Finals were completed on Sunday when Glenn Cools (Volvo 242) moved up to win SF1 in +2000 and then take the final as top qualifier Bex slipped back to fourth place having won SF2. Arne Kemps (BMW E36) and Roel Verhoeven (BMW M3) completed the podium. Viktor Vranckx made a one-off appearance and was classified 10th having ended his day fifth in SF2. By contrast Kurt Lambers dominated the -2000 section in his BMW M3, unbeaten in the event he was joined on the podium by Johan Kwinten (BMW 1) and Kevin van Beek (Honda Civic). Yves teelen (Peugeot 208) was also unbeaten as he bagged the Super1600 win ahead of Niels Van de Warrenburg (Opel Corsa) and Wouter Desender (Honda Civic). Cross Car was won by Tom Heindrichs (LifeLive) who was behind Kobe Pauwels and Neuville at the intermediate, but then won SF1 before taking the final. Xavier Bayard (Speedcar Wonder) battled his way up from sixth at the inter to be second while Jan Keller (Peters) won SF3 and then took third in the final. Pauwels and Neuville placed fourth and fifth in the final, the latter managing only two laps and Sven Hofkens being disqualified. Romauld Demelenne repeated his Saturday win, in the Junior Cross Car final. Max van Empel was again best of the RST field and Johan Versluys won in Superbuggy.

23 November / Fraser McConnell becomes the latest rallycross driver to make his way into Extreme E. McConnell will replace Kevin Hansen at Jenson Button’s JBXE outfit, stepping up from his recent role as ‘championship driver’ (effectively a reserve) to earn his first race seat. He will be partnered by Hedda Hosas who continues with JBXE.

Jeanne Ives / We are sad to note the recent death of Jeanne Ives on 12 November. Jeanne was for many years among those unsung heroes of motor sport. A dedicated and long-serving event secretary, and also membership secretary, for the British Rallycross Drivers Association, Jeanne was half of a strong double act alongside her husband Peter who was Clerk of the Course. Our best wishes are with Peter and Jeanne’s family and friends.

This weekend / There are a couple of events still on the schedule, but as far as we know, this is a weekend without any major rallycross events. So, take some time off, or dive into YouTube and relive the best bits of 2022. We will nudge you in the direction of the NGK Masters folk race event which we omitted to tell you about a few weeks ago, but which, post-covid, seems to be back to its best.

pics: CERX, LifeLive, RX Portugal