Loeb wins at Loheac. Kristoffersson top in RallyX.

1 September / The FIA confirms that the final two weekends of World RX will go ahead as planned in Cape Town and Hong Kong where the teams will use Xeroid X1 cars. A statement on the FIA website said: “Following an FIA World Motorsport Council extraordinary e-vote, (1 September), the final four rounds of the 2023 FIA World Rallycross Championship season will run as scheduled, with drivers competing in RX2e-category vehicles. In both Cape Town and Hong Kong, drivers will score championship points in the ongoing battle to be crowned 2023 drivers’ world champion. Taking into account the continuing investigation into the fire at Lydden Hill on 21 July which destroyed both Special ONE Racing RX1e cars and the logistics timeframe of shipping cars to Cape Town, it has been decided that the drivers will compete in ZEROID X1 vehicles. The cars will then be relocated to China for the season-ending double-header, as World RX heads to the streets of downtown Hong Kong for the first time in the championship’s history. A minimum of eight drivers have been confirmed for the event in Cape Town next month, headlined by current championship leader, Johan Kristoffersson.”

2 September / The final rounds of RallyX and the SM Rallycross (the Swedish national championship) shared a weekend at Holjes in which Johan Kristoffersson (VW Polo) took another clean sweep, dominating the event and taking the RallyX title. Oliver Eriksson (Honda Civic) was second in the event, OC Veiby third. Maiko Tamm (Ford Fiesta) won the Supercar AM final ahead of Mats Ohman (Audi S1) and Viktor Vranckx (RX2e). Casper Jansson won the Supercar Lites final but could not prevent the title going to Simon Olofsson who placed second in the event. Cross Car contained 33 starters and was won by Estonian Martin Juga (Speedcar Wonder). Norwegians Alexander Heum and Thomas Eek Murstad were second and third, while fifth place was sufficient for Sebastian Enholm to clinch the series title. Finland’s leading trio of Juniors were on top of Cross Car Junior once again, Mikael Uitto taking the win ahead of the similar Speedcar of Joontan Ylilammi with Lauri Halonen (Ydrefalk) third. Emil Ohman qualified fourth in the 2WD class, won SF2 and then bagged the final in which top qualifier Urban Bergstrom failed to finish.

The Swedish national series reach its conclusion at Holjes and produced plenty of fun. Filip Martinsson (BMW E36) won the Supernational title despite being a non-finisher in the final which was won by Marcus Einarsson (Volvo 242). Oskar Hellstrom (BMW E30) avoided the drama on his way to the 2150 title. Second qualifier, Hellstrom won SF2 and then took the final ahead of top qualifier Kim Andersson (E36) and David Hjertberg (E30) in the class that had 38 starters. Joel Uhr (Saab 99) was best of the Junior field and Isaac Torlamb (BMW E30) secured the SM crown with fifth place.

3 September / Sebastien Loeb collects his first event win at Loheac after jumping into the Rallycross France event in a Hyundai i20 owned by Patrick Guillerme. Loeb was top qualifier after being fastest in the first heat and not lower than fourth in the remaining three rounds in which Fabien Pailler, Davy Jeanney and Samuel Peu set fastest times. Loeb and Jeanney then won the semi-finals before Loeb took the final ahead of his teammate Jeanny and Peu. Julien Meunier (Skoda Fabia) continued his brilliant season with another win. Anthony Paillardon (Audi A1) placed second with Nicolas Eouzan (Renault Twingo) third. The Launay clan had a good weekend, Marceau beaten only in H3 as he won in the Junior series while Chanel was top of the Coupe Feminine ahead of Coralie Boree and Ilona Cavadini. Nicolas Beaucle (Merecedes) returned to the top of the D3 podium while Tony Bardeau (Honda Civic) was unbeaten in D4.

3 September / The Austrian championship was joined by RX Italia and the Czech Cup at Fuglau’s MJP Arena where Alois Holler was the winner in the four-car Supercar class. There were 14 classes, but not the RX5 or Kartcross from RX Italia, in the event, among which Gerald Woldrich (Mercedes C200) topped the six-car SuperTourigCars +2000 order, Hungarian Zoltan Held (VW Polo) jumped across the border and bagged a notable win over Roman Castoral (Opel Astra) in the -2000 section which had seven starters and Radek Dvorak (Skoda Fabia) was unbeaten to top the 12-strong -1600 order in which Matteo Valazza (Peugeot 106) was fourth and best of the RX Italia runners. Marek Honzik (Renault Twingo) won the National 1600, the lone Czech starter beating a dozen Austrians to take the win.

3 September / The Portuguese rallycross Championship made its second visit of the year to Macao where Mario Barbosa (Citroen Saxo) returned to the top of the Super1600 category that is regarded as the top class in Portugal. Leonel Sampaio (Skoda Fabia) and Antonio Sousa (Peugeot 208) joined Barbosa on the podium. Numerically the Kartcross class is strongest and had 21 starters of which Alexandre Borges (Planet Kartcross) was best, taking a narrow win in the final ahead of Luis Almeida (LBS) and Mario Rato (Semog Bravo). Joao Dinis (Semog Bravo) won the Junior Kartcross final, the class notable for having four girls among its five starters. Adao Pinto (Opel Astra) won yet again in the National 2WD class while Rafaela Barbosa was second overall and best of the ‘Division One’ runners in the 12-strong combined class. Tiago Alexandre beat Jose Oliveira to win the Supercar class.

This weekend / The Estonian Championship – Rallikross – wraps up at Laitse on Saturday while Finland’s Rallicross SM goes to Joensuu for its final round over the full weekend. In Riga the Latvian-Lithunanian Championship also has its final round with a night time event.

pics: World RX, Red Bull media pool, RallyX, JC Raceteknik, KMS, Rallycross.cz