tamm again in Estonia. Montalegre ramps up World RX opener. Sonzogni wins again in Italy.

19 May / Having discovered the taste for winning in round two, Jenni Sonzogni emerged as the winner of the night race run at Maggiora where the track was used in its reverse configuration. Poor weather mean that the event was a difficult one and Sonzogni eventually won an RX5 final that was cut from six to four laps. Marco Noris won in the Supercar class, Max Gilardetti the only other starter. Lucas Scabbia (Peugeot 207) was best of the STC+2000 field, Austrian Josef Strebinger (VW Polo) beat Ermes Mapi (Renault Clio) to win the STC-2000 final and Valentino Ledda (Peugeot 208) was again best of the -1600. Riccardo Canzian (Speedcar) made a poor start to the Kartcross final but fought back to take victory ahead of Adriano Fontana (Ya-Car). The series breaks for a few weeks before moving to the new Pomposa Circuit for its next event.

20 May / The second round of Rallikross in Estonia was won by Maikko Tamm and his new Ford Fiesta. The top qualifier, Tamm claimed his second straight win in the series and led hom Kevin Allick and Arvo Kask (both Mitsubishi Lancer). Kartcross Xtreme also had a dominat winner, Sten Oja (P-Tech) the top qualifier and winner of the A final. Super1600 was won by Robin Allick while the Junior 1600 section was topped by Albert Partleson. Marko Muru gained his second win of the season by leading home the TouringCar field in his Fiesta, while Armin Raag won 125 kart class and Laur Langeproon was best of the 650 field.

21 May / Jekabpils hosted the second event in the Latvian-Lithuanian Championship where Marcis Martinovs was the winner of the small Supercar class. the strongest class in the event was the local BMW 3000 category which attracted 22 starters and was eventually won by Raivis Galvins. Top qualifier, Galvins topped the final ahead of Raivis Gerkis who got to the main event via an LCQ race which he won. There were 15 starters for the S2000 class, Ivo Gabrans the top qualifier and winner of the final while Rytis Gurklys won in Super1600 and Niks Mezins was best of the always popular Lada class. Linards Jasons won the closely contested Yaris Cup final and Matas Zavarskis was best of just three classified finishers in Kartcross.

21 May / The second round of the Portuguese Rallycross Chamnpionship took place at Macao Verde Horizonte, Super1600 is the default top class in Ralicross Portugal, and here it was Jorge Machado who set the pace and won the final ahead of series leader Andre Sousa. Mario Barbosa took third place in his venerable Citroen Saxo but had more to cheer later in the day when he daughter, Rafaela claimed her first victory in the two-wheel drive class, leading home Manuel Pinto and Mario Teixeira. Joao Dinis (Semog) was best of the Junior Cross Car racers while in the Kartcross category, which had 22 starters, Gustavo Henriques (LBS) took the win ahead of Sergio Castro (ASK) and Joao Medina (Semog)

21 May / The Loheac Legends Festival took place at the Breton circuit. Not a competitive event, but a gathering of historic rallycross and rally cars with on-track demonstrations, the event attracted a wide range of cars and drivers.

22 May / Former Portuguese Rally Champion Bernardo Sousa is appointed as event ambassador by the organisers of the World RX event at Montalegre. A reality TV star, Sousa is set to drive the ‘promotion car’ owned by Volvo Construction Equipment in some demo laps during the event.

22 May / Spanish racer Pablo Suarez will return for this third season in the RX2e championship. I feel more prepared than ever to fight for the top steps of the podium, I want to keep working in this direction, that’s why I am always looking for improvement, and constantly working on my preparation. Norway, here we come!” said Suarez.

24 May / Motorsport UK British Rallycross Championship 5 Nations Trophy and Irish Rallycross Championship announce that next week’s joint event at Mondello Park will carry the Irish Rallycross Grand Prix title. The event will also be livetsreamed in full. Mondello Park boss Roddy Greene said: “The new Grand Prix title is part of our celebration of the growth Irish Rallycross has achieved through its collaboration with 5 Nations BRX, and in addition to that, we are delighted to be able to share our biggest rallycross event of the year online for fans everywhere to watch.”

26 May / JC Raceteknik announces that it will run a pair of Audi S1s at Holjes for Andreas Bakkerud and Robin Larsson. The pair will start in the FIA European Rallycross Champiopnship event that is part of the Holjes World RX counter. “The Magic Weekend is the biggest rallycross race of the season. A festival from start to finish! It’s also my favourite rallycross track in the world, so if there’s a race I want to do, its Holjes! The win in 2013 is still high up there in my memories” said Bakkerud. For Larsson, who won the 2022-2023 Nitro season, it will a return to European competition, “It will be hard to just jump in and get a result, the competition will be tough … It’s a while since I drove in Holjes, but I’ve been there a few times and hopefully we can get up to speed. I go there without any pressure, but when you get to the start line and you want to win,” he said.

26 May / Portuguese World RX event organisers host a promotion event in the tourist heart of Oporto with Sebastien Loeb, Klara Andersson and Niclas Gronholm present alongside event ambassador Bernardo Sousa and mayor of the host town Montalegre, Fatima Fernandes. “It is a source of pride to see, every year, thousands and thousands of people return to Montalegre for this great event. The drivers say that we have one of the best tracks in the world and the international dimension of this event deserved the support of the entities responsible for promoting our country. After all, we took the potential of Montalegre, the North region and Portugal to various parts in the world, in addition to the huge influx of supporters from Spain,” she said.

This weekend / Rallycross France visits its southern outpost in wine country, the dramatic Faleyras hosting round two of the series. Kouvola is the scene for the third weekend of RallyX. The Norwegian national season begins and Bolandsmoen and in Spain CERX starts its second season at Miranda de Ebro. Slomczyn hosts the Polish Championship and Germany’s DRX goes to Grundau.

pics: World RX, 5NBRX/Lydden, Rallikross, FPAK, Rallycross LV, Montalegre, RX Italia, RX2e, Loheac, JC Raceteknik