Tohill/McCluskey share IRX wins as 24 season begins. Winter news round-up.

29 December 2023 / CERX, the Spanish Rallycross Championship announces that the series will add a class for Super1600/RX3 cars in 2024. RDM Competicion and French team Da Luz Technology are committed to the new class which joins Cross Car and a Rally 2 (R5)-based four-wheel drive category in the El Campeonato de Espana de Rallycross. The 2024 season is scheduled to start at Castelo Branco in Portugal on 16-17 March.

24 January / The Norwegian ASN, the NBF, publishes a statement on its website saying that there will be no Norwegian event in the FIA World Rallycross Championship in 2024. “The Lanke circuit was the European Championship arena for the first time in 2011, and when rallycross gained World Championship status from 2014, Norway and Lanke were the natural host nation and track … it’s sad that we have to throw away the cards. At the same time as public interest declines, the requirements for all international sports events are becoming more and more difficult to meet for small nations like Norway,” said Hallgeir Raknerud, Secretary General of the NBF.

24 January / After returning to racing in 2023 with some impressive performances in the RX150 class, Nick Priddy has bought a Hansen Motorsport-built Citroen DS3 Supercar from Mike Sellar and will race the car in this year’s British Rallycross Championship.

January / The final three events in the 2023-2024 Trophee Andros, and the last three Andros Trophy events ever, were run during January with Aurelian Panis emerging from the tight competition as champion. JB Dubourg was top dog at Isola 2000 taking two wins in thr triple-header and bagging his 30th Andros event win. Yann Ehrlacher and Dubourg then shared the victories at Lans-en-Vercors, but Panis remained ahead in the points race entering the final. As one of the reasons for the end of the series was the difficulty in finding venues that guarantee snow and ice, it seemed symbolic that the final event at Super Besse was run without snow. Dorian Boccolacci (who had also won at Isola 2000) won the event in which second place was enough for Panis to secure his third title.

19 January / Rallycross drivers are not that rare in the Dakar Rally, but the achievement of Polish Championship stalwart Lukasz Zoll and his brother Michal is noteworthy. The pair used a Porsche 924 to tackle the classic event for the first time and reached the finish line – which was their intention and hope.

3 February / The FIA Off-Road Prize-Giving takes place in Prague where the event is hosted by the Czech Automobile Club (ACCR).

4 February / Warm weather gets the better Nitrocross in Calgary. In the absence of a stable frozen track, the event becomes a non-points showcase with limited running.

11 February / The 2024 Irish Rallycross Championship began with a double-header weekend at Mondello Park in which Derek Tohill and John McCluskey took a win each. Tohill was fastest in two of the three heats on the first day, Michael Leonard Jnr. topping the H3 order. Tohill, Leonard and McCkuskey then filled the top three places in both the Supercar final and the Superfinal. The latter race, Andrew and Darragh Morris brought their Subaru Imprezas home fourth and fifth with Sale Singleton (Ford Ka) best of the two-wheel drive runners. PeterMcGarry (driving John Ward’s Vauxhall VX220) had beaten Singleton in the Modified (Supernational) final. Logan Hoey (Mini) was best of the Junior field which had a good entry of ten cars. Jack Newman (Speedcar Wonder) won the Buggy class, Nicole Drought (Renault Clio) won the Open Clubman final and Luke Caplice was best of the rally car runners.

Tohill again topped qualifying on the second day, McCluskey edging him out in H3. Tohill then led home McCluskey and Leonard in the final before McCluskey turned the tables on Tohill to win the Superfinal. Only three cars made it to the end of the Modified final, McGarry bagging his second win of the weekend ahead of Kieran Curran (Opel Corsa) and Paul Pascoe (Ford Sierra). Thomas O’Rafferty (Opel Corsa) won the rally car class and went on to be best two-wheel drive runner with sixth place in the Superfinal. Drought doubled-up on her Saturday win to top the Open Clubman final, Newman won again in the Buggy final and Hoey took a narrow victory over Leah McManus in the Junior final.

14 February / Colin Anson has bought the Mitsubishi Mirage Supercar last used by Julian Godfrey in British RX events. Built by Spencer Sport, the car won British events in Godfrey’s hands. Anson has sold both his Ford Ka and Opel Astra Supercars to make space for the Mirage. He plans to take in a full season of British RX 5 Nations events.

Radovan Novak was a former co-driver who became prominent official and member of the FIA World Council from the Czech Republic. Although he became a regular FIA steward in F1, he maintained a firm connection to the autocross and rallycross in which Czech competitors have found so much success. Retired for a few years, Novak remained a prominent figure in his native country but died in November aged 84.

Just a few weeks after his older brother Harry died, Jan de Rooy died on 30 January, aged 80. A more prolific racer than his brother, the younger de Rooy remained active into the 1980s. Having been among the pioneers of four-wheel drive cars in the 1960s, he returned to the theme and used an Audi Quattro before finally retiring from rallycross. He went on to be a regular and successful competitor in the original Paris-Dakar rallies where he took part in the truck classes.

Josef Iro who died at the end of January aged 67 was a former competitor in the FIA European Rallycross Championship as well as an experienced national championship driver from the Czech Republic.

John Webb who died in January at the age of 92 was the former boss of Brands Hatch and its associated UK race tracks, who is held in high regard as a visionary promoter of motor sport through the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s. Of relevance to readers here, Webb was at the forefront of the creation of the British Rallycross Grand Prix, the first version of which ran in 1982. Many others were involved to bring the event to fruition, but without Webb’s vision and commitment to back the development and promotion of the event it is unlikely ever to have reached the heights achieved.

This weekend / No rallycross this weekend, but there are a host of rallycross drivers in action at the first Extreme E event of the year. The newest recruit is American Gray Leadbetter who raced in ARX in 2019 when she was just 14-years-old. She partners with Travis Pastrana in the Jimmie Johnson-owned Legacy Motor Club team.

pics: World RX, Red Bull media pool, Trophee Andros, DA Racing, 5 Nations BRX, Lukasz Zoll, ACCR, NRV, IRX/Paddy McGrath