Benyo and O’Donovans on top in Hungarian and British openers.

28 March / Czech rallycross racer Martin Knapek has won the F4 CEZ Academy. The 17-year-old, who is a protege of Czech rally and rallycross driver Jan Cerny, was one of a group to take part in the first Academy season of the F4 CEZ. His success in the Acadamey means he has the opportunity to take part in the six-event series under ‘favourable conditions’. “I’m already looking forward to the new opportunities that winning the F4 academy opens up for me,“ said Knapek after his win. The F4 CEZ series begins at Balaton Park in Hungary on 27-28 April.

28 March / The organisers of the RX Italia series postpone the first event of the 2024 series after severe weather warnings are issued in the area of the Maggiora circuit where the event is scheduled to take place. “Ours was a difficult decision; Easter and Easter Monday at Maggiora Offroad Arena are now a tradition for SCM, but the forecast weather conditions forced us to postpone this,” said president of Sport Club Maggiora Riccardo Fasola.

29 March / Plans for the 2024 season and future development at Spa-Francorchamps are widely reported after the venue’s pre-season launch. Among the details are plans to turn the rallycross track into a fanzone area and to relocate the grandstands constructed for rallycross to other areas of the circuit.

April 1 / The British Rallycross Championship begins with a double-header event at Lydden Hill where the O’Donovan family collect the wins; Ollie O’Donovan (Proton Iriz) making a last lap pass to take the final victory on Saturday before defending double champion Patrick claimed the Monday win. Disqualified on Saturday for an inoperative onboard camera, Michael Leonard (Fiesta) started the Monday final from pole after winning semi-final one when Patrick O’Donovan suffered a puncture. Leonard then had a clutch problem at the start of the final and with Patrick O’Donovan stalling, it was John McCluskey who led. O’Donovan charged back into contention and used a better Joker Lap strategy to win the final ahead of McCluskey (Fiesta) and Steve Hill (Mitsubishi Lancer E10).
Jason Bleasdale won the Supernational section on Saturday, the former champion leading again on Monday before a spin that handed the win to his brother Darren driving a similar Vauxhall VX220. Dave Van Beers (Fiesta) was second ahead of Dave Scott (Citroen C2). Fred Ling was third to the Bleasdale brothers on Saturday and led the challenge again on Monday before his Fiesta was retired in H3 with mechanical problems. Junior title holder Tyler Mcalpin won in round one and was on pole on Monday before dropping back in the final which was won by Tighe Wratten ahead of Benjamin Bartlett and Teddie Macpherson. Wesley Wickens and Leigh-Anne Sedgwick won in the BMW Mini class and Max Langmaid won both days in the ALL4 Mini section. John Cross (Lancia Stratos) and Charlie French (Escort MkII) took the Super Retro wins while Terry Moore won the Retro class on Monday in his Mini, but did not drive on Monday when Ian Biagi (Mini) took the win. Will Ovenden dominated the Swift Sport series, taking two wins, while in the combined Cross Car/RX150 category it was Cross Car drivers who prospered, Max Weatherley winning on Saturday with Richard Rees taking the win on Monday.

01 April / Mate Benyo stormed through the opening round of the Hungarian Rallycross Championship at Mariapocs to take victory. Unbeaten in the event that also formed the opening round of the CEZ series, Benyo (Peugeot 208) led home Zbigniew Staniszewski (Fiesta) and Alois Holler (Fiesta) in the final. Piotr Budzynski (Honda Civic) won the SuperTouringCars+2000 in which three of the five starters did not make it past H1. The -2000 STC group was combined with Super1600, Roman Castoral (Opel Astra) taking a narrow win over Robert Dabrowski (VW Polo) in the final. Gergo Fekete (Suzuki Swift) was the winner of STC-1600 after Balazs Siebel retired his Toyota Aygo in H3 having set fastest times in H1 & H2. Roland Czako topped H3 and H4 and won SF1 with his Honda Civic but slumped to last place in the final. The single-make Semog Cross Car category was won by Kristof Csuti, top qualifier Otto Horvath having won all three heats and SF1 but getting dropped to third in the final. The Astra Cup was won by “Kisharsanyi”, Daniel Kulscar (VW Polo) won the Magyar Cup, Csaba Gaspar was the winner of the MX5 cup and Norbert Attila Kaldenekker was best of the 16 Junior racers.

This weekend / A quieter weekend, unless you are in Poland where the nationals series begins at Slomczyn

pics: World RX, Red Bull media pool, RX Italia, F4 CEZ, RabocsiRing Mariapocs, 5NBRX,