After the news that Damian Litwinowicz and Andreas Bakkerud confirmed their presences in the FIA European Rallycross Championship, things went silent in public until the end of February, when some announcements appeared for full season and partial commitments in this new era of the competition, as it returned to the top of the rallycross ladder until an expected return of the World RX.
About the part timers, at the moment, only one team committed to at least a round, as Murray Motorsport switched to a pair of Honda Civic RXs that were at the Olsbergs MSE shop for quite a while. With Global Rallycross, RallyX and even Euro RX history in at least one of the chassis, John McCluskey and Gary Donoghue will compete in the 5 Nations British RX and appear as guest entries in the Euro RX round at Mondello Park which is their well known ballpark.
The other entries follow the same pattern, as they competed in single rounds during the 2025 season to know what to expect before taking a decision to rejoin in 2026.
Out of those coming from the prospects lot, Maiko Tamm is certainly the most well regarded, as the Estonian who was totally focused in RallyX Europe contested the KymiRing round last year and won the whole thing. According to Tamm himself, the idea is to upgrade the Ford Fiesta ST RX to compete in Euro RX, which isn't too much of a change for the upcoming season.
A prospect that debuted wonderfully in Euro RX was Andor Trepák, who came with his Renault Megane R. S. RX, won one of the Heats at Nyirád to be third in the Intermediate standings before falling in the Semifinals. Apparently this was more than enough to convince the TRX Motorsport driver to leave the Hungarian championship to join the Euro RX, using the same machine from 2025.
The most recent news came from Portuguese driver José Oliveira, as the triple Portuguese champion is jumping into a full Euro RX season after an one-off appearance in 2025 at the season opening round at Lousada, in a trio that Antônio Sousa and Cesar Pereira to face off the continent stalwarts in front of their home crowd. Using a Peugeot 208 WRX, Oliveira also contested the home RallyX South round at Montalegre, but in the end, Euro RX was the final choice.
Outside these six drivers, there are also a list of rumors and possibilities in the sidelines, mostly not considering a full season or even competing in the championship. Probably the most positive case is Klara Andersson, as the Swedish driver is actively trying to secure a seat after the disbanding of CE Dealer Team, given that the RX1e class isn’t a thing anymore, which rules out PWR, and the fact that Niclas Grönholm chose to go rallying this year, eventually taking the team for the program. In Klara’s favor, she had a pretty decent first contact with the PGRX Hyundai i20 RX during the Lohéac round in Rallycross France last season, so things might lean toward this.
Johan Kristoffersson is majorly inclined towards other motorsports this year, having already taken part of the Rally Dakar, but apparently, a statement from ZF’s racing division gives the idea that at least one Kristoffersson Motorsport Volkswagen Polo KMS 601 RX will be there for Johan, and with Ole Christian Veiby intending to compete in Euro RX and having done some private tests off the season, the World title conquering combo might be there to aim for the Euro RX title too.
Janis Baumanis is also interested in going back to racing, but with his commitments off the track, a full season is totally ruled out, so the only possibility in his mind is something he has been doing in recent seasons since he stopped competing full time, which is appearing at the Riga RX to act as a competitive promoter, whether the event is under the RallyX or Euro RX banners.
The registration period for Euro RX entries ends on 13 March, with the season starting at Riga on 10 May.
PHOTOS: ZF Motorsport, Automax Motorsport, Murray Motorsport, TRX Motorsport, FIA Rallycross Championships, RallyX, PGRX
Comments
Post a Comment
Do you have an opinion? Feel free to comment.