Kristoffersson still king as Hansen wins World RX in Hong Kong.

9 November  /  Following the recent news of First Corner’s plans to recycle Supercar Lites into FC2, Nitrocross announces that the cars will also form the basis of its Next Evo class.

12 November / The FIA World Rallycross Championship concluded in Hong Kong where a double-header weekend on a temporary city-centre circuit was the stage for the championship’s first appearance in the Asia-Pacific region. As in Cape Town last month, Zeroid X1 cars from QEV were used for the event, this time with ten starters as Patrick O’Donovan and Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky joined the entry list, each making their first World RX start. In a late change to plans for the championship’s first city race, the circuit was reduced in length from 1200 to 800 metres, two straights joined by a tight U turn cut from the lap which finally contained 60% gravel. The Saturday event was run over two heats, semi-finals and final with the H1 grid decided by a timed practice session, while SuperPole was run on Sunday when there were three qualifying heats. Beaten only by Niclas Gronholm in H2, Kevin Hansen had a great first day to take the win ahead of Gronholm and Timo Scheider. Neither Hansen nor Scheider made it to the final on Sunday although the Saturday winner had been fastest in H1 before problems slowed his progress. Johan Kristoffersson was fastest in H2 and then won both semi and final. Having sealed the drivers’ title for the sixth time on Saturday, JK led home KMS teammate OC Veiby and O’Donovan, both turning around their fortunes after difficult runs in the first day.

12 November / Fraser McConnell and Robin Larsson were the winners as Nitrocross returned to Phoenix. Travis Pastrana had been first to the chequer in Saturday’s round four, but was dropped two places after contact in the last lap as he sought to benefit from a battle between Larsson and Kevin Eriksson. The final order was McConnell, Larsson and Pastrana ahead of Eriksson and Andreas Bakkerud. In round five the following day, Larsson led home McConnell and Eriksson to close to one point off the latter’s title lead with Bakkerud third in the series. Casper Jansson took a brace of event wins in the Next category, Lane Vacala and Lia Block on the podium on Saturday, Block then moving up to second on Sunday when Jimmy Henderson placed second.

This weekend / Mondello Park welcomes the Irish Rallycross Championship for a double-header this weekend as the series resumes after its summer break.

pics: World RX, Red Bull media pool, Nitrocross