Staniszewski sails to Polish title. Pelfrene wins at Lousada. Antal wins at Mariapocs

18 October / Sport Club Maggiora postpones the final round of the RX Italia series in the face of extreme weather warnings. The event, which would also have formed the final round of the CEZ series will now run on 4-5 November.

18 October / Patrick O’Donovan will make his World RX debut in the final rounds of the championship in Hong Kong. O’Donovan will race as a third entry for Hansen World RX Team, stepping up from Hansen’s sub-brand #Yellowsquad that has had a hand in his 2023 Euro RX campaign. “This is a brilliant opportunity for Patrick to compete against some of the best rallycross drivers in in the World. He has had a really strong season in the British and European Championships, but all the time the focus is on points as well as individual results. The weekend in Hong Kong is all about learning as much as possible and doing the best he can at the highest level in this sport,” said Kenneth Hansen.

22 October / The final round of the Portuguese championship took place at Lousada where French championship front-runner Anthony Pelfrene was fastest in all except the first heat and took a comfortable win over Jose Oliveira’s similar Peugeot 208. Opening the class to ‘national 4WD’ and R5 cars, the event attracted four starters for the top class, Cesar Pereira placing third in his R5 Fiesta and Jose Lourenco fourth in a Subaru Impreza. At the home of Portuguese ralicross, Super1600 attracted a 13-car field and provided an end of year victory for Joao Ribeiro (Audi A1) who has endured a troubled season. Top qualifier, Ribeiro took a clear win in the final and was joined on the podium by Andre Sousa (A1) and Sergio Dias (Renault Twingo). Sergio Castro (ASK XC R) breezed through the heats to be top qualifier in the 12-strong Kartcross field but was undone in the final where Fabio Machado (ASK XC R) got ahead and won by just 0.360s. Carlos Dinis (Semog Bravo) was best of the two Junior Kartcross starters and Jose Pedro Barriga was the lone Juior saloon racer. One home territory, Rafaela Barbosa (Citroen Saxo) won the National 2WD final. Also the top qualifier, Barbosa pipped the established pacesetter in the class Adao Pinto (Opel Astra) and scooped top honours when Pinto stopped in the final. Joao Oliveira (Peugeot 106) and Helder Ribeiro (Citroen Saxo) joined her on the podium.

22 October / Mariapocs hosted he final round of the Hungarian championship where Istvan Antal (Audi S1) produced a dominant performance to win the event. Beaten only in the fourth heat where Zoltan Held set fastest time in his similar car, Antal went on to take a clear win in the final and was joined on the podium by Krisztian Pal (Skoda Fabia) and Peter Palotas (Mitsubishi Lancer). Tibor Vamosi (BMW E36) was the winner of the four-car SuperTouringCars + final, Roman Castoral (Opel Astra) showed up and walked off with the STC -2000 honours in a slender three-car field and the STC-1600, which had six starters, was claimed by Balazs Siebel (Toyota Aygo). In the six one-make classes that feature in the series, Otto Horvath won the Mazda MX5 class which has nine starters, while the Magya Cup had 19 starters in 1600cc cars, Bulscu Szabo the winner in a Honda Civic and a further nine starters in the 1400cc bracket where Csanad Szabo win in a Suzuki Swift. Norbert Attila Kaldenekker was the Junior winner, Mate Csuti took a narrow win over Adam Kelo Gere in the Hankook Racer Cup, Kristof Csuti won the Cross Car final and “Kisharsanyi” was best of the 11 starters in the Astra Cup class. / Although he did not race in the event, Janko Weiszt displayed his newly acquired ex-GCK Renault Megane at the RabocsiRing.

22 October / Zbyszek Staniszewski notched up another Polish championship win to confirm the national crown with a maximum score when the series concluded in heavy rain at Poznan. Staniszewski entered his Fiesta in the Supercar Light class for this event, the championship already secure the car was adapated (smaller restrictor, etc.) to race in the sub-class. Light group champion-elect Lukasz Tyszkwiecz drove a Fiesta ‘proto’; basically an R5 chassis with Mitsubishi Evo running gear. He placed second to Staniszewski. The three SuperNational classes had relatively small entries and in the combined final Robert Dabrowski (VW Polo) was the winner and flanked on the podium by “Halk” and Daniel Krzysiak (BMW M2). There were 17 starter in the BMW-based RWD Cup, the winner being Kamil Pietraszko (E36) who was top qualifier and winner of semi-final one before taking the final ahead of Mariusz Szczepanski (318is). Competition among the 28 starters in the Fiat-based SC Cup was as strong as usual but top qualifier Filip Melon remained ahead and won his semi-final and the final. Jakub Kabat was second in the SF1 and in the final where third place was taken by Wiktor Dudek who had been third in SF2.

26 October / Special One Racing issues a statement saying it has declined an invitation to race in the World RX season closer in Hong Kong and citing a “lack of respect” in regard to the way the investigation into the incident at Lydden in July in which its cars and equipment were destroyed. The statement concludes that the team hopes to return to World RX in 2024. The statement is here:

This weekend / A pause this weekend to gather your breath, look back on the summer and forward to the events in November and December that are still to come.

pics: World RX, Red Bull media pool, Tor Poznan, RabocsiRing, MNASZ, RX Italia, RX Racing, portugalralicross, Special One Racing