Ferreira, Oliveira and Lourenco win Lousada six hour rallycross

17 December / The annual six hour race at Lousada in Portugal had a last minute upset in which leading team Kaxa was penalised for a safety car infringement (not something we have ever written before!) and lost the event to the team of Tiago Ferreira, Jose Oliveira and Joao Lourenco. The victorious trio clocked up 399 laps in their Citroen Saxo, one lap more than Kaxa’s Joaquim Machado, Jorge Machado, Leonel Sampaio and Jorge Areal. Jose Gomes, Daniel Pacheco, Marco Oliveira and Nuno Afonso placed third, one lap further down. Run in memory of Paulo Sergio, this was the 26th edition of the annual event.

17 December / The second weekend of Trophee Andros racing took place in Andorra where Aurelian Panis took victory in the first day and left with an extended points lead at the end of the weekend. Olivier Pernaut and Christophe Ferrier completed the podium on day one. Ferrier then bagged victory in the second event of the weekend, Jerome Grosset-Janin placing second ahead of Yann Ehrlacher. Panis leads the series 13 points from Ehrlacher with JB Dubourg a further 10 points down in third. Racing resumes after the holiday period at Isola 2000 on 12-13 January.

19 December / The FIA RX2e championship will start the 2024 season with an open test day at Calafat in Spain on 15 February. Single runs of five laps are on offer for €450, half-day test (four runs) for €1300 and a full day (eight to 10 runs) for €2000. RX2e test info

Dutch rallycross has recently lost two significant figures. Harry de Rooy (Harrie de Rooij) was the older brother of Jan de Rooy and raced alongside his sibling. The pair were regulars in the UK during in the early 1970s, most notably with a pair of Dafs. While Jan continued to race into the 1980s, and became a notable Dakar competitor, Harry dropped out of racing, but his presence and success in the early days should not be forgotten.
Cees Verkooyen also died recently. A competitor in his own right, Verkooyen was also active in the racing of his sons Ruud and Nelis.

pics: World RX, Red Bull media pool, CAL, RX2e, Trophee Andros,