Eizmendi grabs Spanish Rallycross win. Karai shades Benyo at Nyirad.

18 April / Belgian RX postpones the second round of the Belgian Rallycross Championship because recent rain has left the paddock at Arendonk’s Glosso Circuit waterlogged. Originally planned for 28 April, a new date is being sought for the event.

21 April / Round two of the Spanish Rallycross Championship – Campeonato de Espana de Rallycross – took place at Miranda de Ebro where the fledgling series recorded the first victory by Gorka Eizmendi who started the final from the second row of the grid but used an early Joker Lap to gain space on the track and then move ahead to win as Carlos Fernandez took his Joker. Tino Iglesias placed third and maintained his series lead. Super1600 joined the CERX programme for the first time French visitor Johann Etienne (Peugeot 108) dominated the proceedings but in the final it was eventually Domingo Molinos who took the win with his Citroen C2. Marco Matador and Diego Martinez rejoined their Cross Car battle from round one, and in the final victory finally fell to Matador who had won H1, H2 and H3. Round one winner Martinez was second with Anton Muinos placing but front row qualifier Guillermo Paz unable to start the final after a mechanical problem. Abel Gonzalez was the clear winner of the Junior final. Oscar Fuertes had won H1 but thereafter could not match Gonzalez and had to settle for second in the final, ahead of Jon Bikendi who made his first start of the year.

21 April / The second round of the Hungarian Rallycross Championship – MNASZ Rallycross OB – took place at Nyirad in an event that also counted for the Slovakian Rallycross Championship. The circuit showed signs of recent upgrades ahead of July’s World RX event. Tamas Karai (Audi S1) made his seasonal debut and split the heat wins with round one winner Mate Benyo (Peugeot 208), Karai fastest in H2 and H3 but Benyo the top qualifier with two second places while Karai DNF in H3. There was 0.6s between Karai and Benyo at the flag, Ales Fucik (VW Polo) progressing from fifth on the grid (after being disqualified from H3) to place third. The SuperTouringCar classes were a little thin on the ground, Lajos Papp (Subaru Impreza) won the +2000 class in which Tibor Vamosi (BMWE E36) was the only other starter. Andor Trepak (Renualt Clio) topped the four-car -2000 section and Balazs Siebel (Toyota Aygo) won in the -1600 class where there were 10 starters. Super1600 mustered just three car, Samuel Kovacs (Skoda Fabia) the winner. Kristof Csuti won the one-make Semog-based Cross Car class, “Kisharsanyi” won the Astra Kupa class, Zoltan Held was best of the Hybrid group, Bulcsu Szabo (Honda Civic) won the Magyar Kupa final and Csaba Gaspar was the MX5 Kupa winner. The Junior class had a strong 16-car field of which Norbert Attila Kaldenekker was clearly the best, winning all three heats, the semi-final and the final. Tamas Farkas and Balazs Monostori joined him on the podium.

21 April / The Polish Rallycross Championship – MP Rallycross – moved to Tor Poznan where it was joined by the first round of the Czech Rallycross Championship. The two rivals who lined up with him presented little challenge to Zbyszek Staniszewski who guided his Ford Fiesta to a clean sweep and finished comfortably ahead of Michal Peterlejtner and Lukasz Cerveny. Ondrej Senk (Skoda Fabia) beat “Gigi” to win the five-car Supernational +2000 class after Lukasz Zoll went out of the event in H4 with problems in his Volvo S40. Roman Castoral (Opel Astra) was unbeaten as he swept to another -2000 win, Tomasz Sokulski abnd Peter Wurm the only other starters in the class, while Radoslaw Wojdyna (Mini Cooper) beat Jiri Sterba in the two-car -1600 class. In the combined Supernational section, Castoral won his semi and then added victory in the final. Igor Sokulksi (BMW E36) was the winner of the RWD Cup final and Fillip Melon won the SC Cup which, with 26 starters, was easily the biggest class in the event.

Former British Rallycross Champion Michael Shield died on the 18th of April, he was 57-years-old. After winning the Formula D (1600cc) class of the British championship in 1986, Shield raced a self-prepared version of the iconic MG Metro 6R4 from 1987 when he was a member of the British team that won the FIA Inter-Nations Cup event at Croft. In 1989 Shield achieved his greatest success by becoming the British Rallycross Champion. Winning the British title at just 23-years-old, Shield became the youngest ever champion, a record he held until 2016. He raced in Formula Renault before a return to rallycross in 1994 and also worked with his father, George, in the promotion of rallycross events at Croft Circuit.

This weekend / Consistently the best national series on the planet, the French Rallycross Championship begins this weekend at Lessay where Davy Jeanney begins the defence of his crown at the wheel of a recently acquired Skoda Fabia. The German Rallycross Championship begins at the Ewald-Pauli Ring at Schluchtern and, on Saturday only, the Estonian season opens at Raassilla.

pics: World RX, Red Bull media pool, Nyirad, Automobilklub Wielkopolski, CERX,