Martinovs lifts Latvian-Lithuanian season opener.

5 May / Austrian veteran Alois Holler enjoyed a great run in the opening round of the Osterreichische Rallycross Staatsmeisterschaft. Run in conjunction with the second round of the Czech Rallycross Championship, Holler dominated the event. Fastest in all three heats, the Fiesta driver also won the final ahead of Czech racer Ales Fucik. Roland Rohrer recovered from a DNF in H1 to take third in the final with his Mitsubishi Lancer E6. Patrick Eigenbauer (VW Polo) was best of just four starters in SuperTouringCars+2000. The news in the -2000 section was that Josef Strebinger (VW Polo) was twice fastest in the heats and won the final in which Jakub Michal (Peugeot 206) placed second ahead of Roman Castoral (Opel Astra). Thomas Vegh (VW Polo) was unbeaten among the -1600 runners. The event was notable for having 16 different classes – of which the Skoda Cup class had the greatest number of starters with 15 cars, among which Petr Kolar was unbeaten. The most successful driver of the day was Jan Dvorak who worked his Renault Twingo hard to win both the Czech National 1600 class (which had 13 starters) and the similar N1600 section of the Czech Rallycross Cup which had nine starters.

5 May / RX Italia made a delayed start to its season at Ittiri in Sardinia with a double-header weekend. Valentino Ledda had a winning start in his first RX5 event, leading home Fabio Mezzatesta and Rosario Montalbano on the first day. Sunday produced a repeat of the result, leaving Ledda with a clear series lead. Just four drivers started the Kartcross class, Mauro Vicario (Speedcar Xtreme) the winner the first day and Marcus Martinelli (GMN) bouncing back from an early retirement on Saturday to win on Sunday. Matteo Valazza (Peugeot 206) lifted a brace of RX3 wins. On Saturday Valazza and Armando Tocchio (Peugeot 106) fought mightily for final glory, Valazza eventually winning by just 0.142s. Sunday was easier as Valazzo raced clear for his second win. Daniela Catena’s fan-favourite Fiat 500 ‘proto-sport’ was a double winner in the Sport RX class and Mario Masala (Renault Clio) was in RX4.

5 May / Bikernieki at Riga hosted the opening event in the Latvian-Lithunanian Rallycross Championship where Marcis Martinovs took the event win in his Peugeot 208. Martinovs qualified second to Ivars Joelis who had been fastest in the first two heats. Martinovs then topped H3 and grabbed victory in the final ahead of Joelis and Raini Roomets. Lenards Patricks Lepsis (Toyota) was unbeaten in the Super2000 class, Ivo Gabrans second ahead of Ivo and Mantas Sidabars in third and fourth places. Andris Krastins wom the Lada RX class, Valdas Mizukis was best of the three starters in S1600 and Kristo Muru was best of the two starters in the Yaris 1300 class. The Yaris 100o class for Junior drivers had 18 starters and was won by Kemius Sulinskas while the BMW RX 3000 class was the best supported of the event with 24 starters and was won by Kristaps Kronbergs was fastest in the first heat and second qualifier. Lukas Sidabars was top qualifier and the H3 winner, but slipped back to fifth in the final in which Adrians Apsitis (fastest in H2) placed second ahead of Dalis Jansons.

5 May / The Campeonato de Portugal de Ralicross & Kartcross began at Macao Verde Horizonte where kartcross, National 2WD and Super1600 were numerically the best classes. Jorge Machado (Peugeot 208) eventually won out in Super1600, winning by slightly more than a second over Mario Barbosa’s fan-favourite Citroen Saxo. Jose Artur Teixeira (Skoda Fabia) placed third. There were 17 starters in Kartcross, Ricardo Henriques (LBS RX01) taking the win ahead of Nelson Rocha (Semog Bravo) and Joao Pinheiro (LBS RX01). The combined 2WD classes mustered 20 starters and were won by Bruno Lima (Citroen Saxo) who got the chequer just 0.2 ahead of Rafaela Barbosa (Citroen Saxo). Multiple class champion Adao Pinto (Opel Astra) placed third just a second behind the lead duo. Michael Braun (Citroen C1) was the only starter in the Junior saloon class, Alexandre Borges (Semog Bravo) the only finisher of three starters in the Div 2 Kartcross and Jose Oliveira (Peugeot 208) the only one of the three Supercar starters to make it to the end of the event.

12 May / Maggiora Offroad Arena will host the inaugural RX For All event on 12 May. Organised by Sport Club Maggiora in collaboration with Valazza Motorsport, ASD Baskin Ciuff Onlus and Street Family Tuner Crew the event is billed as a day dedicated to inclusiveness: in the first part of the day some disabled athletes from Baskin Ciuff and other associations they will be able to experience rallycross with the cars usually involved in the Italian Rallycross Championship and driven by Marco Valazza, Matteo Valazza, Riccardo Folpini, Mattia Nicolini and Marco Nicolini. Drifting demos and other on-track initiatives are paired with off-track forums. “RX For All was born from our desire to open the world of motor sport also to those who, for various reasons, have more difficulty in approaching this discipline,” said Riccardo Fasola, president of Sport Club Maggiora.

12 May / On the eve of the first RallyX event of the year First Corner reveals the first of its FC2 cars, the updgraded Supercar Lites that was announced last year. KMS also uses the event to launch its new Supercar/RX1 Volkswagen Polo.

Jean-Paul Maillard, a long standing official died recently, he was 79-years-old. Maillard was particularly involved in off-road sport and was the French representative in the FIA Off-Road Commission (rallycross and autocross) for a number of years.

This weekend / Go north! Norway’s Rallycross NM national series starts on the Lankebanan at Hell. Meanwhile overvthe border in Sweden RallyX shares it’s season opener at Tierp with the national Rallycross SM. And the Polish Rallycross Championship goes back to Slomczyn for round three which it shares with the peripatetic Slovakian Rallycross Championship.

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