The FIA World Rallycross Championship season continues at Spa in Belgium this weekend with the sixth and seventh rounds of the season, the Benelux World RX of Spa-Francorchamps. At the same time, the Latvian Jānis Baumanis will compete in the “Euro RX1” class of the FIA European Rallycross Championship, for whom this will be the final stage of the season.
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The legendary Spa-Francochamps track in Belgium is one of the most loved tracks in the world by motorsport fans, which has created a place in the hearts of fans since 1950, when the first season of the Formula 1 World Championship took place here. Meanwhile, the “World RX” world championship visited the Spa circuit for the first time in 2019 and once again, already with the first races, won the love of both fans and pilots. At that time, the competition was won by Timur Timerzyanov, who beat Andreas Bakerud and Joni Wieman in the final race. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2020 stage in Belgium was cancelled, but the fastest rallycross drivers returned to Spa last year, when Johan Christofferson won his regular victory. One of the season’s leaders, Kevin Hansen and Christian Szabo, also got on the podium.
The Spa rallycross track is 913 meters long and includes the world-famous “Eau Rouge” and “Raidillon” curves. The last section of the circuit is also compelling, where a wide 180-degree turn with ground cover is created parallel to the joker circuit, and in addition, it has an oval-type track turning profile, allowing it to be driven on different trajectories, which in turn contributes to the development of exciting events on the track. In addition, compared to the previous year, the bottom section has been made less abrasive (therefore more slippery) this season, allowing spectators to look forward to competition and skidding on the track.
This year’s new electric era “RX1e” rallycross cars are best adapted to the four-time world rallycross champion Johan Christofferson. The Swedish athlete has reached the checkered flag in all five World RX stages held so far, although it must be said that the “Kristoffersson Motorsport” driver received a penalty and was relegated to the last position in the stage held in Portugal on Sunday.
Kristofferson will definitely try to get back on the winning track in Belgium, but the “Hansen World RX Team” drivers Timmy and Kevin Hansen are also in a sporty mood. Although they have always been fast on the track, they have not always managed to turn their speed into a high-quality result, which is why both brothers are only in the third and fourth positions in the overall standings, 25 and 29 points behind the leader, respectively. The closest to Kristofferson after five stages is Norwegian Ole Christian Veiby, the current champion’s teammate, who only returned to rallycross this year after several years spent in rallying.
The season has started like a hill for the two drivers of the “CE Dealer Team” team Niklas Gronholm and Klara Anderson, however, in the Sunday stage of the previous competition, both of them finally got a high-quality finish – the Finn Gronholm got the first victory of the season, while Anderson got on the podium of the world championship for the first time in her career. The third pilot of Kristofferson’s team, Gustavs Bergstrom, and the experienced German René Münnich (“All-Inkl Münnich Motorsport”) will certainly intervene in the fight for the final.
The final, fifth stage of the season of the FIA European Rallycross Championship Euro RX1 class will also take place at the Belgian Spa track, in which Latvian racing driver Jānis Baumanis will also take part. Although the Swede Antons Marklund already secured the European championship title in Portugal, Baumanis ranks second with 58 points in the championship. Bauman is closely followed by the Belgian Enzo Ide, who is just 3 points behind, while the Norwegian Siverts Svardahl is another 10 points further back. For Bauman, however, the Spa track has been quite successful so far – in 2019 he reached the final of the “World RX”, and last year he won the third place in the “Euro RX1” championship stage.
The fourth round of the FIA ”RX2e” competition season will also take place this weekend. In this qualifying class, all participants compete with identical electric cars, but the young Belgian talent Viktors Vrankss, who won the first two stages of the season, but finished in third place in the Riga stage, has risen to the leading position in the overall ranking of the season. Isaac Sjoqvist and Nils Andersson are nine points behind, who will surely try to reduce the deficit to Vranks.
The most convenient way to follow the events on and off the track is on the RX+ streaming platform provided by the FIA World Rallycross Championship, where, in addition to live broadcasts of all races, you can also watch the drivers’ on-board camera videos, as well as various scenes and interviews from the participants’ park and the pre-start area.
